Titan Legends Volume One: The Spirit Key
by Link the Teen Titan
Summary: Link had lived in Lanayru Village for 13 years. But one day, a masked villain comes and kills his mentor. After he is saved by Lanayru, Link sets off on a journey and makes his way to Jump City, where he meets the future members of the Teen Titans. Afterwards, Link sets off on another adventure to gather the shards of the Spirit Key; a journey that will take him three years.
1. Chapter 1: Outcast

**Chapter One: Outcast**

My story begins in a small, rural village somewhere on the west coast of America. It was called Lanayru village. It was a pleasant place... for most people. During the day most of the village children are at the local park playing games. Well...most of them anyway. There was one kid who was never invited to play any games. Instead he would usually just sit under a tree all alone. He was a 12 year old kid with blonde hair and blue eyes. One more thing you should know...that kid was me. My name is Link.

It's not that I didn't want to play any games, it's just for some reason, nobody liked me. Whenever I tried to join everyone in their fun, they would just give me strange looks and walk away. I don't know why... I had never been mean to anyone. They could've been jealous, as I was the apprentice to the village swordsman, Roland Nobleman. I couldn't really be sure though. However, all of that would soon change.

After a little while I decided to head back to Nobleman's house. I lived there as his apprentice, but only as his apprentice. Nobleman had no interest in getting to know me. He's told me many times: I am his student, not his son. He was right though, Nobleman is not my father. In fact, I didn't know anything about my parents. From what I had been told, both my mother and my father died when I was only a few months old. Living with Nobleman wasn't easy. He pushes me hard during sword training which usually happens two times a day. And in between those sessions, I would usually just lie in my room, sometimes reading a book. Books were one of the few things that Nobleman would provide for me.

It wasn't all bad though. Late at night I would often sneak out and go to my special place. That place was a clearing with a freshwater spring located on the outskirts of the village. It was very beautiful, surrounded by forest and dotted with pretty white flowers. There was also this odd mound in front of the spring. I didn't know what it was then so I hardly paid it any mind. But my favorite part was that the view of the starry night sky was incredible. I wasn't sure why, but staring up at the stars just made me feel...content. Whenever I came here I would always just sit in the clearing and gaze up at the stars. There was one particular star in the sky that I always had my eyes on more than the others, and I would often make a wish on it. My wish was always the same. I only really wanted one thing in my life, and that was... a friend. So I wouldn't be so lonely anymore.

One day before I returned to Nobleman's house, I thought I had heard a voice coming from the spring. There's a rumor among the villagers that a great spirit lives in the spring. They claim that when in the mortal world, it takes the form of a giant golden serpent. The villagers call it "Lanayru". The village was named after the spirit, and the village's emblem was a yellow serpent coiled around a blue orb. Personally at the time I wasn't sure if I believed the spirit even existed. Nobleman kept telling me not to question the Great Spirit, saying that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for "Lanayru". Still...I had a hard time believing that a gigantic snake lived in the spring, which wasn't even that big.

On my way back to Nobleman's house, I wondered, "What had I heard in the spring?...Could 'Lanayru' really exist?"

I soon snuck back into the house and into my room. As I sat down on my bed, I took notice of the blue ocarina on the desk next to me and picked it up. The instrument supposedly belonged to my mother, and whenever I was tired or hurt, I would often play a song on it and I'd feel better. Little did I know though, even this ocarina wouldn't be able to help against the threat that would come tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2: Stroke of Death

**Chapter Two: Stroke of Death**

The next day, around noon, I was busy in one of my training sessions with Nobleman. These training sessions were never easy, I was pretty exhausted, and Nobleman hadn't even broken a sweat!

"Getting tired already?" Nobleman said, "Come on, you can do better than this."

He was right, I was ordinarily able to fight better than this, but this time he had me tired after the first five minutes. I decided to try something desperate. I was going to use my "special power", a power that I've had since I was little. It's an ability that heightens my senses, letting me fight faster and stronger. The only downside is that it can wear me down pretty quickly, usually in only ten minutes. But I had to try something; I wasn't going to let Nobleman best me that easily. So I focused my mind and focused my spiritual energy into my sword. Both my sword and my eyes glowed with a blue light.

I ran at Nobleman quicker than most people could follow, but Nobleman was ready. He managed to block my preemptive strike and thrust me back. I unleashed a barrage of attacks at him, but he managed to counter all of them. After the last strike, our swords were locked together. It was a contest of force. I kept my focus, attempting to knock him back. Neither of us was going to give in. But eventually, I was able to prevail, and knocked him backwards into the wall.

When I saw this, I returned to normal state, with a slightly satisfied smile on my face. However, when Nobleman got up, I saw that the expression on his face was the same as it always was: a look of indifference.

"You used your unnatural powers to win the battle. Have I not told you that you are forbidden from using them during training?" he asked rhetorically.

I had a feeling this would be his reaction. "What's the point in having this power if I'm not allowed to use it?!" I asked him.

"That kind of power is not to be used recklessly. That power was given to you by the Great Spirit, and should be used wisely." he said.

That's the response he would usually give to me whenever I did something wrong. It was starting to annoy me.

"The Spirit isn't real! Why can't you just tell me the truth!?" I shouted, hardly thinking.

That comment had an effect on Nobleman, as his expression changed from indifferent to angry.

"You ungrateful... the Spirit Lanayru most certainly is real. He is the guardian of our village and if it wasn't for him you wouldn't be here!" he said angrily.

"Maybe I don't want to be here!" I yelled, "I'd rather be with my parents!"

Hearing that, Nobleman's expression changed back to indifferent, but there was a hint of pity in his glance. I stood there with my head down, tears beginning to form in my eyes.

"Link," Nobleman said with a softer tone, "I apologize that you are unable to be with your own family. But what I said is true. Your power cannot be used recklessly. For if it is used recklessly, there could be dire consequences. Understood?"

I lifted my head up and wiped the tears from my eyes. Then I nodded and said, "Yes master."

"Good. I believe we have had enough training for one day. Go get some rest." he told me.

I nodded. But before I left, I heard something. It was like a faint beeping sound.

"Master, what is that sound?" I asked.

"Hmm? What sound?" he asked me back.

"It sounds like something beeping." I said.

"Beeping?" he asked.

It was only a few seconds before he realized what was happening.

"Get down!" he shouted while quickly moving me from where I was standing, as suddenly, the wall behind where I was standing exploded, leaving a giant hole in the wall surrounded by piles of wall rubble with smoke billowing out of it.

From the smoke, several men in black armor appeared. They said nothing while they attacked us. Reacting quickly I blocked my foe's punches with my sword, with Nobleman doing the same. Nobleman then swung at his enemy, cleanly slicing him in half. But instead of blood, I saw sparks come out of him, and his insides were machinery. These weren't real men, they were machines. Realizing this, I diagonally swung at my enemy and it fell apart cut in the same direction. But just after I beat it, another figure appeared, but this one was larger, and the mask he wore was different. I was too focused on this one that I wasn't paying attention when another one fired a laser at me, knocking me into the wall and causing some loose rubble to fall on top of me.

As I was struggling to get free, I witnessed the larger machine approach Nobleman rather calmly. But it was only after he spoke in his cold, demanding voice that I realized that this one was human.

"For a master swordsman I thought you'd put up more of a fight." he said, mockingly.

"Why are you here?! Who are you?!" Nobleman asked.

"I'm here for the boy," the man said. "Hand him over, and I'll be on my way."

He wanted me? Why did he want me? Nobleman apparently was not going to let him take me though, because he had his sword ready.

"Well then, I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." the man said.

The man changed to a battle ready position. Nobleman rushed at him, but the man dodged the attack with ease. He then pulled out a sword of his own. Its hilt was a faded dark-green color, and part of the blade had red stains. Nobleman attacked again using several special attacks. To my surprise, the man was able to dodge all of them. After he dodged the last strike, the man was behind Nobleman. Not being able to react fast enough, the man thrust his sword through Nobleman's abdomen, killing him. I witnessed this right after I got free from the rubble. I could hardly believe what I just saw. With Nobleman now dead, I was left to deal with this villain myself.


	3. Chapter 3: Lanayru's Request

**Chapter Three: Lanayru's Request**

Nobleman lay dead upon the floor, dispatched by this strange man almost effortlessly. I still couldn't believe it, but the man who had trained me since I was four years old was now dead. Now, the man had his gaze fixed upon me. He approached me calmly, acting like nothing had happened. I could see evil ambitions in his eye, just as I knew he could see the fear in mine.

"Link… we meet at last." He said.

How did he know my name? There wasn't time to find out. The moment there was an opening, I ran out of the hole in the wall. I decided to run to the spring, hoping to lose him there. When I got there, I hunched over trying to catch my breath. But it wasn't over.

"Did you really think you could lose me that easily?" the masked man said. He didn't lose my trail at all!

I was still exhausted, not only from running, but also from the previous battles. I tried my best to regain my composure.

"Why don't you stop running, and show me what that swordsman has taught you?" the man said.

Hearing that, I decided that it was time to stop running. I drew my sword and stood ready, with my powers activated.

"That's it. Come at me with everything you've got." He said.

The man braced himself as he saw me rush towards him. He dodged the first few attacks, but when my attacks got faster one strike managed to hit him on his armored shoulder. The force of the impact made him skid backwards a little.

"Well. That certainly was more impressive than when your master tried to strike me. But it's going to take more than that to defeat me." He told me.  
After that he advanced on me with several martial arts moves. This caught me by surprise, as I had never practiced against physical combat before, and while I was able to dodge the first few strikes, the last blow got me on the side and knocked me down. I quickly got back up and let loose with a barrage of sword attacks, but he dodged all of them.

Suddenly, I felt extremely exhausted. So much that I fell to my knees, hyperventilating profusely. I knew what had happened: I had been using my powers for over ten minutes, and the side effect had kicked in. I could barely move, and it would take at least a minute for my strength to return, a minute that I did not have.

"Out of steam already? I expected more from you, kid." The man said.

While I was immobile, he proceeded to grasp me by the throat and raise me into the air. I could barely struggle free, and even if I could his grip would likely be too strong anyway.

"Don't tell me that's the best you can do." He said, "Disappointing."

"Wh-wh-who…a-a-are you?" I asked, barely being able to with his hand trying to crush my throat.

But before he could give an answer, the water and rocks in the spring started to glow. Both the masked man and I noticed this. Suddenly, a gigantic glowing serpent rose out of the water and thrust itself at the masked man, which knocked him back several yards and released his grip on me. When he got back up, the serpent reared up and hissed viscously at him.

"Black-hearted one… leave this place now, or suffer the consequences!" the serpent told the man.

The man's gaze went from the serpent, to me, and then he said to me, "You haven't seen the last of me, kid. We will meet again."

With that, he threw down a smokescreen and disappeared.

I was still on the ground, gazing upon the serpent in awe. The glowing snake then fixed its gaze on me. I was worried for a moment, weakly attempting to retreat.

"Calm yourself, Link. That man is gone now. You are safe." The serpent said.

"You know my name too?" I asked.

The serpent nodded. "I do. My name is Lanayru. Light Spirit, and guardian of these lands."

Did I hear that right? Lanayru?! As in the 'Great Spirit' that Nobleman had kept talking about for years?! I could hardly believe it, but the spirit was real!

"You're….Lanayru?! The spirit that is supposed to protect the village?!" I asked.

"Indeed. Though I do not only serve as guardian of this village. I also serve as your guardian." Lanayru answered.

"My guardian?! But…why me?" I asked.

"You are destined to play a part in a very important series of events. Though that is not the only reason. I also serve as your guardian because it was your mother's last request that I do so." He told me.

My…mother?! My mother knew Lanayru?!

"How do you know my mother?" I asked.

"She came to me at the brink of death carrying you in her arms. Knowing that she wouldn't make it, she pleaded for me to watch over you in her absence. Unable to do so directly, I had Nobleman raise you, until this day," he told me. "The mound in front of my spring is where she rests in peace."

I walked over to the mound of earth in front of the spring. I had always wondered what that mound was. And now that I knew…

I placed my hand on top of the mound, and a tear fell from my eye. She had given her life so that I could keep mine. But… why was she dying when she had come.

"You must have many questions," Lanayru said, "But now is not the time for the answers to be revealed. For now, the time has come for you to leave this village."

"Leave the village? But…where will I go?" I asked.

The spirit gestured his head to the west. "I have a task for you to undertake in an area west of here." He said.

Lanayru then opened his mouth, and two glowing rings slid off of his fangs and then levitated in front of me.

"Take one of these rings." Lanayru told me.

I did what he said. As I held the ring, its glow faded, and I was able to see serpentine markings on it.

"What about the other one?" I asked.

"You are to give the other one to a certain individual that you will encounter in the area west of here. An individual that is also destined to play a part in the same series of events." He told me.

There was another person…..like me? Maybe I wasn't all alone in this world after all.

"Who is this person?" I asked.

"I am unable to reveal the identity of this one to you, but trust me when I say that you will know when you have found this person." He said.

"Could I at least have a hint?" I asked him, confused.

"I will say this: simply look to the stars and the answer will come to you," he said, "Farewell."

With that the spirit vanished back into the spring. I had more questions, but apparently Lanayru wasn't going to answer them yet. With both rings in my hand, I put one of them on, and slipped the other one into my pocket. As I headed back to the village, I began to contemplate everything that had just happened. Who was that man who attacked me? How did my mother die? And what of this person I'm supposed to meet?

When I got back to Nobleman's house, it was still a wreck, and Nobleman was still lying dead on the floor. I took a moment to mourn his death. He may not have been like a father to me, but he still raised me, even if it was only because Lanayru asked him to do it.

I gathered some things I thought might be useful, such as some food, medical supplies, and a compass. I also decided to take the shield that was hanging on the wall. I knew it would provide me some defense, and it even had Lanayru's symbol on it. Finally, before I left, I made a grave for Nobleman. After he gave his life to defend me, I thought he deserved it.

I stood on the edge of the village boundaries, staring out into the world. I had spent all of my life in this village, and now I was being thrust out into a world that I barely understood. It's not like I had anywhere else to go, and maybe out there, I could find out more about…me. I was also looking forward to meeting this person Lanayru told me to find. I just hoped that this person wouldn't reject me like everyone else.

After taking one last look at the village that I lived in for years, I started on my journey west, to fulfill the task that Lanayru had given me.


	4. Chapter 4: Visitor from the Stars

**Chapter Four: Visitor from the Stars**

_Link…..Liiinnnkkkk…are you afraid of the dark, Link? …because if not…..YOU WILL BE! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!_

I gasped as I woke up. I had fallen asleep under a tree in a forest somewhere. I was having a nightmare. It wasn't really anything new; I've had similar nightmares all my life. Before, all I saw was darkness and heard a voice, but this time… I saw something. Along with the voice, I saw a pair of gigantic red eyes staring at me wickedly. It was scary, but something else happened. Before whatever owned those eyes could do anything to me, a flash of emerald green light burst out of nowhere inbetween me and the… thing. That's the part that caused me to wake up suddenly. What was that thing? And what was the green light supposed to mean?

It had been nearly five days since I left Lanayru Village, heading west just as the spirit told me. It was around 7pm or so when I arrived on the edge of a city set near the ocean. The sign at the city entrance read "Jump City." Now that was an unusual name for a city. But then again, "Link" isn't a very normal name either. Regardless, I ventured into the city, hoping that this was the place Lanayru was talking about. Every surrounding was new to me. I had never seen such tall buildings, or lights on posts, or motorized vehicles. I was too distracted with my surroundings that I failed to notice someone heading towards me.

Apparently neither of us were paying attention, and we accidentally crashed into each other. We were both knocked to the ground.

"Ow," I said. I then noticed who I crashed into.

It was a girl wearing a blue hooded robe. She looked like she hadn't been out in the sun a lot, because her skin was really pale.

"Oh no! I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" I said.

She got up and dusted herself off. I noticed that rather than a regular outfit, she was wearing a black leotard.  
"It's okay. I wasn't exactly paying attention either." She told me.

Then she paused for a moment then raised an eyebrow. "What's with that getup?" she asked.

She had noticed my… peculiar outfit. Over top of my regular clothes, I was wearing a green tunic and a long, pointed green cap that hung down behind my head. I guess it was kind of unusual, I was about to answer, but she cut me off.

"You know what… It's none of my business." She said. "Anyway, sorry for the collision."

After that, she left. I was unsure what to make of the situation that had just happened, so I just decided to continue onward. What I did not realize though, was that she had not really left.

I was nearing a three-way intersection and it still did not seem like I was getting any closer to finding… whoever I was supposed to find. I thought about the hint that Lanayru gave me: "Look to the stars, and the answer shall come". I guess that meant to look at the stars in the night sky, but I didn't see how that would help. I didn't have any other ideas though, so I looked up. The stars were as beautiful as ever, but this time I saw something different. Hanging in the night sky was a star shining a brilliant green. And it was moving….right towards this area!

I ran for cover as the meteor came crashing down right on the spot where I had been standing. The force of the impact knocked me off my feet and straight into a building wall. When the smoke cleared, I saw the crater, dust billowing out of it, and still glowing with a faint green light. What on earth was that? Or rather, what off of the earth was that? I took another look, and saw something I never expected. Standing on top of the crater, was a girl!

Her hair was red, and her skin was kind of orange. But what I noticed most of all was that her eyes were glowing with a green light. It was almost exactly how my eyes look when I use my powers, aside from the color. After seeing that I knew that this was who the spirit wanted me to find. I wasn't sure how, but I just knew. I started to approach her and the crowd that had gathered around the crater, but after the first few steps, I heard her say something to the crowd. It was not in English. In fact, I wasn't sure what kind of language it was.

"She doesn't speak English…" I thought to myself. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

Right after I thought that though, something strange happened. The spirit ring on my hand began to glow for a few seconds. When it faded, something even stranger happened. I heard the girl talk again. I could still hear her speaking her own language, but I was also hearing English overtop of it. What had just happened? Did the ring do this? Maybe it was translating for me or something? Regardless, I was able to understand her now. But would she be able to understand me.

I saw her slam both of her arms into a nearby support beam. It was being bashed pretty badly, and it was scaring the bystanders. When she stopped, I noticed what was on her arms. It looked like some sort of shackles. I saw her slump down in failure. Then I heard her say something under her breath. "Somebody….anybody….please…help me…"

My hearing is really good, so I was able to hear what she said. I felt so sorry for her. I had to help. I continued to approach her. She was still slumped downward so she did not notice me at first.

"Um…..hi?" I said when I was in front of her.

When she heard this she sprang back up and stood in an attack ready stance.

"Wait! Don't hurt me! I…uh…come in peace?" I told her.

I didn't know if she understood that, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. But I noticed a surprised look on her face.

"You…speak Tamaranian?" she asked me.

Wait. Did this mean she understood me? That the ring was translating both ways? English for me, and…uh…her language for her? I guess that didn't matter right now.

"Uh…yeah, I guess…" I said. "My name is Link. What's your name?"

When I asked that, I held out my hand. She looked at it for a moment, as if contemplating what to do. After a few seconds, she looked up at me again, giving me an aggressive look.

"My name is of no importance to you. Now leave me alone!" she told me.

She turned and walked away from me and began to slam her shackles into the ground, and she was going to hit the support beam again, but I grabbed hold of her arms to stop her. I was kind of surprised I was able to, as she seemed like she was incredibly strong.

"Stop that!" I told her.

"Why?!" she responded.

"Just look around! You're frightening everyone!" I said.

She looked around everywhere. Everyone in the area looked terrified and stood at a distance. When she saw this, the girl calmed down slightly.

"Do you want them to think you're a monster?!" I asked her.

That comment apparently affected her, because she looked towards the ground, and her expression changed from aggressive to depressed.

"I…I don't…..I wasn't…" she began to say.

I'm pretty sure she was going to say that she didn't want to seem like a monster. I guess that comment was a bit too harsh.

"I know what's going on." I began to say.

The girl looked up at me with a surprised and confused look on her face.

"Well, I don't know everything that's going on…. But I know how you must feel right now," I said. "To be thrust into a world that you don't understand without any warning, or any choice…. It's scary. Trust me, I'm going through the same thing. But that's no reason to freak out and start destroying everything! No one here is going to hurt you. I promise."

After she heard this, the girl calmed down. Then she gestured to the shackles on her arms.

"I was not trying to destroy anything. I merely want to remove these arm shackles. I've tried to myself, but they are quite durable. I thought that if I hit them against something hard enough, I could weaken them and get them off. But it does not seem to be working." She said.

I had a feeling that was what she was trying to do. Even so, I couldn't let her smash everything around her; it would just scare everyone even more.

"I can help you get those off." I told her.

When she heard that, her eyes widened in surprise. But when she turned to look at me, she looked confused.

"Why would you help me?" she asked.

"Why not? You're in trouble and I want to help. Do I need a reason?" I told her.

She looked unsure at first, but after a few seconds she walked up to me and her eyes stopped glowing.

"Okay." She said. Then she held her shackled arms out in front of me.

I was still looking in her eyes. They were a very beautiful shade of green, without any white in them. I was so distracted by them that it took me a few seconds to react.

"Oh! Sorry…. Let's see…." I said before I examined the shackles.

They were unlike anything I'd ever seen, very advanced and complicated. But I soon found what looked like a lock. I didn't have a key, but my sword could probably break it. But before I could inform her of this, I heard something coming at us very fast.

"Watch out!" I said as I grabbed her and got her out of the way.

"Ow! Why did you do that?!" she asked as she got up.

"That's why!" I said as I pointed to what was stuck in the wall behind us.

I went and pulled it out. It was some sort of boomerang-like object shaped like a bird, with blades instead of wings. I got her out of the way just in time. This could've taken her head off!

"Who threw this?!" I asked out loud. "It almost hurt someone!"

After I asked this, another person appeared. This one was a boy with jet black spiky hair who was wearing a cape and a mask over his eyes. He was standing on top of a car and looked mad.

"That would be me." He said responding to my question.

"You almost took her head off!" I said.

The boy took out another bird shaped boomerang and held it ready to throw.

"Sorry. Next time I won't miss!" he said.


	5. Chapter 5: Misunderstanding

**Chapter Five: Misunderstanding**

So there I was, inbetween this powerful, but truly innocent alien girl, and this caped boy who had attempted to attack her. He jumped down from the car, still prepped for attack. I didn't want an unnecessary fight to break out. It would only make the girl seem even more like a monster.

"Why were you trying to hurt her?!" I asked the caped boy.

"She's dangerous. And it's my duty to take her down!" he answered.

""There's been a misunderstanding. Let's talk about this." I said.

At this point the alien girl's eyes lit up and she looked aggressive again.

"It seems the time to talk has passed!" she said before leaping to attack the boy.

He was quick though, and dodged the attack. He then got out a small staff that extended in his hand, and tried hitting the girl with several swings from it. When she retaliated, he blocked the attack with his staff, though the impact forced him back a few yards. Actually it did more than just that, for a few seconds later the boy's staff just fell apart. This girl certainly was stronger than she looked.

I ran up to the alien girl again to try and stop the fight. I really didn't want to use my sword unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Wait! Stop! This doesn't need to happen!" I said.

"Get away from me!" she yelled.

She then hit me with her shackled arms, knocking me back towards the caped boy.

"Why are trying to talk to her?! She doesn't even speak English!" he asked me.

Before I could answer though, a green goat appeared out of nowhere and knocked the alien girl aside. The goat then changed into a boy that was the same color. Would there be any end to the weirdness that was happening today?

The green boy stood in front of the caped boy, standing up straight and saluting.

"Ex-Doom Patrol member Beast Boy reporting for duty. How may I be of assistance?" the green boy said. Right after that, 'Beast Boy' looked surprised.

"Hey! You're Robin aren't you, sir?" Beast Boy asked.

"Well, you can start by not calling me 'sir'." 'Robin' replied.

Beast Boy apparently ignored that, for he kept babbling about how honored he was to be assisting… whoever this 'Robin' guy was, while still using the word 'sir'. What was I? Chopped liver? He hadn't noticed me at all.

It hardly mattered though because we all noticed that he alien girl was back on her feet. And in an incredible act of strength, she kicked a bus towards us! Fortunately all three of us were able to jump out of the way in time. I expected the bus to crash to the ground in a wreck, but instead a large man in an overcoat jumped in front of it and caught it in his bare hands! After setting it down he turned his attention on the rest of us.

"All right, who's been messing up my neighborhood?!" he yelled.

"She started it!" Beast Boy said while pointing to the alien girl.

"No she didn't!" I said, annoyed. I then gestured toward Robin.

"I had the situation under control until this guy came and…." I started to say.

I was cut off though, because the alien girl had slammed her shackled arms into the ground again. Instead this time, the front of the shackles came off, freeing her hands. I guess her 'method' was working, even if it was slowly.

"That will do for the moment." She said to herself, though I was able to hear it. I wasn't sure what she meant by that, but I found out a moment later. She pointed her hands at us, and they began to glow with the same green light as her eyes.

"Hit the deck!" the man in the coat yelled.

I later found out that that meant 'get out of the way', because a split second later a barrage of energy spheres came blasting from her hands. The others got out of the way, but I wasn't quick enough and took one right in the gut. The impact knocked me back at least 100 feet or so into the side of a building.

I struggled to get up, my gut still aching from that attack.

"Ow!" I said to myself. "Whoever this girl is, the spirit's made a good choice."

I didn't have a whole lot of time to think though, because another one was heading right towards me. Barely thinking, I did what seemed like the stupidest thing possible: I just stood there with my hand held out to try and intercept it, like a ball. Doing that probably would've given my left arm third-degree burns or something, but instead, the most unusual thing happened.

It didn't hurt me, I actually did catch it! As I held it in my hand I could feel its energy, and strangely, it felt familiar. Then to my surprise, a second energy sphere came out of me, from the area where my heart is, but this one was blue. Then both spheres levitated in front of me and merged together in a flash of light. When the light faded, in place of the energy spheres was a spherical gemstone with a green light and a blue light swirling around inside of it. It stopped levitating and fell into my hands. What just happened?

A second later the man in the coat grabbed me and led me to a collapsed bus where the others were crouched behind as well.

"What're you doing man, standing in the line of fire like that?!" he asked me.

"Uhhh….. I'm kind of new to all this." I said, hiding the gemstone in my pocket afterwards.

All of us then peeked over the bus to see what was going on now. The alien girl had stopped attacking and was now slumped down, hyperventilating profusely.

"That girl's gonna wreck the whole city!" the man in the coat said.

"I won't let her. I won't lose this fight!" Robin said.

"There doesn't have to be a fight. If you all would just let me…." I began to say, but I wasn't able to finish because the others just completely ignored me and proceeded to attack her again.

"STOP!" I yelled. As if that would make a difference.

However, right after I yelled, a wall of black energy appeared out of nowhere, blocking their attack.

"What?! Did I…" I began to say to myself, wondering if I had done this.

"You didn't. I did." Someone behind us said. I recognized the voice; it was the robed girl that I ran into not too long ago.

"It's you. What're you doing here?" I asked her.

"I never actually left." She answered.

She then fixed her eyes on the others.

"He's right. Maybe fighting isn't the answer." She told them.

Wait. She was following me? Regardless, I walked up towards the energy wall and looked through it towards the alien girl who was still hyperventilating. The robed girl lowered some of the wall so I'd be able to go through.

"You honestly think you can reason with her?" Robin asked me.

I nodded with a serious look on my face. Robin seemed to respect it, but the man in the coat didn't seem too, because he looked like he was about to try and attack. I was worried at first, but Robin stopped him.

"Stand down." He said.

"What?! You think you're the boss or something?!" the man rudely remarked.

"I think he knows what he's doing. Give him a chance." He said.

Robin then gave me a nod as if giving me his approval, not like I actually needed it. Still, I was grateful, so I gave a small smile.

"By the way, my name's Link." I told them.

After that, I stepped through the wall and walked towards the alien girl. When I was right in front of her she got up and pointed her hands at me, prepared to attack with those energy spheres again.

"Go away!" she told me.

"Wait! I'm not going to hurt you! I want to help, remember?" I said.

What I said did not seem to affect her at all.

"Go away! You lied to me!" she said.

"What? Lied? What… What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"You told me that no one would harm me, but then you have your friends here attack me when I have my guard down!" she said.

"No. You have it all wrong. I don't know any of these people, they're not my friends. I swear! I only want to help. Then maybe… I could be your friend…" I told her.

She still didn't change her attitude. I wasn't getting through to her at all. It was just like everyone at the village, who would take one look at me and then ignore me.

"I guess I can't blame you. No one has ever wanted to be friends with me…" I told her.

Her attitude changed after she heard that. At first she looked surprised, and then it looked like she was wondering whether or not that was a lie. But when she saw the sad look in my eyes, I knew she believed me.

She walked up and held out her shackled arms like when I was trying to help her before.

"Well? Are you going to help me get these off or not!" she said. "…please…"

After hearing that, a glint of hope appeared in my eyes as I once again took a look at her shackles. I remembered about the lock and how I would need my sword to break it. But I needed to let her know first.

"I found the lock, but I can only break it if I use my sword. But I promise I won't hurt you." I told her.

She looked unsure at first, but she nodded a moment later. With that I drew my sword and carefully placed the tip of the blade over the lock. With a small stab, the lock came apart and the shackles fell to the ground. The alien girl rubbed her arms, relieved to be relieved of the cumbersome device.

"Thank you…" she said.

"You're welcome." I said, sheathing my sword afterwards.

"I guess you'll be on your way now, huh?" I asked as I was about to leave.

"Wait…" she said to me.

I turned back around to face her, wondering what she wanted. At that moment she grabbed me by the back of my neck and did something I found extremely surprising. She… kissed me!

Afterwards she pushed me away and I fell down. While I was on the ground, I noticed she looked aggressive again.

"If you wish not to be destroyed, you will leave me alone!" she told me….in English!

"Wait. You could speak English this whole time!?" I asked her.

But she didn't respond. Instead she turned around and flew away, literally. The robed girl had lowered the wall of black energy, and we all stared in the same direction the alien girl flew off. What had just happened? Who was that girl? Why did she kiss me? And most importantly, why had she been shackled?


	6. Chapter 6: Invasion

**Chapter Six: Invasion**

I was just sitting there trying to fathom what had just happened. The others were doing the same, except they were standing up.

"Well, whoever she was, the girl knows how to make an impression." The man in the coat said, breaking the silence.

He was right. The entire area was trashed. Building's damaged, vehicles smashed in, signs snapped. Even the street was cracked in certain areas. It was a wreck!

"I think we made a pretty good impression. Crazy space girl's gone, the city is safe, mission accomplished!" Beast Boy said, turning towards Robin afterwards. "Right sir?"

"Seriously, stop calling me that." He told him.

Beast Boy responded with another salute. What did this 'Robin' guy have against being called sir?

I had questions that needed to be answered. Who was that alien girl, and why was she here in the first place? Also, what was with that gemstone that formed earlier? I couldn't get any answers sitting here, so I decided to go find her. And apparently, Robin had the same idea, because he was about to head in the same direction, though probably not for the exact same reason.

"We're done here. I appreciate the help." He told everyone.

"You're going to track down the alien?" the robed girl asked him.

"He's not the only one. This entire ordeal has me confused. I need to get answers from her." I said before I began walking.

"More like 'find out if she'll give him another kiss'." The man in the coat said under his breath.

"I heard that…" I told him.

At first he looked surprised that I was able to hear what he muttered, and so did Beast Boy. A moment later though Beast Boy caught up to us. He was about to ask a question, but Robin cut him off knowing what he was going to ask.

"I just went solo. I'm not looking to join a team right now." He told him.

Beast Boy looked disappointed, but went back to try and talk to the robed girl and the man in the coat. I kept walking, heading in the same direction the alien girl flew off, and also the same direction Robin was heading.

"I said I didn't want help." Robin told me.

"I heard you. We just happen to be heading for the same place. So I guess I'm coming with you whether you like it or not." I said, with a slightly smug look.

Robin lightly snarled, obviously annoyed at what I had just said.

"Just stay out of my way." He demanded. "The sooner we find that girl, the sooner I can take her down and be done with this."

Did I hear that right?! He still wanted to hurt her? Even after what I did before?! Did he just completely ignore everything that had happened just a few minutes ago?!

"What?! You can't be serious!" I said.

"I'm dead serious. I gave you a chance to do it your way, and you failed. So now I'm going to finish what I started." He said.

"But I didn't fail! She stopped attacking after I freed her!" I said.

"Freed her so she can cause even more destruction! You heard what she said!" he told me.

I do remember the last thing she said. 'If I wish not to be destroyed, I would leave her alone.' But still, it just didn't seem like she'd do that.

"I don't think she meant it exactly that way. If she was going to destroy me herself, wouldn't she have done it right when she got free from those shackles?" I asked.

Robin paused for a moment, thinking about the question I had just asked.

"How could anyone know what her intentions were?!" he asked me.

"She was not destroying anything because she wanted to; she was trying to break off those shackles!" I said.

"Wait. How would you know that? She was speaking a foreign language; no one here could understand her." He asked me.

"Well…. I can't explain it, but…. I could." I told him.

Robin's eyes widened in surprise, or rather the part of his mask where his eyes would be widened. It seemed at first because of what I had just said, but that was not the only reason.

"Um… Link was it?" Robin asked while looking up at something.

"Yes?" I responded.

He then pointed up to the sky, and when I saw what was up there, my eyes widened too. Flying slowly across the sky above the city was a gigantic red spaceship that was headed in the direction that we just came from. We ran back to meet the others, who hadn't gone far.

"Looks like space girl has friends!" the man in the coat said.

"I wouldn't be so sure…." I told him.

I had noticed that the man now had his jacket's hood down, and I saw that half of his face was mechanical. Not like the machines that had attacked me a few days ago, but a cyborg. He would later call himself that but I'll refer to him as Cyborg from now on to make things less confusing.

Anyway, the huge ship flew over a small island off of the coast and hovered there for a moment. Just long enough to open a hatch underneath it and drop a tower-sized structure onto the island. The top of the tower then lit up and projected the image of a hideous being that looked like a man fused with a lizard. He wore a crown of some sort, so whatever these things were I assumed that his was their leader.

"People of the planet earth…" the lizard man said through the projection. "We have come to your world seeking a very dangerous prisoner. After she escaped our ship, we tracked her to this area. Do not interfere with our search, and we will leave your city with only minimal damage. But if you attempt to assist her, your destruction shall be absolute!"

Afterwards, the image faded and tower began to open up, revealing hundreds of the same kind of creatures as the one we just saw. All of them opened their wings and soared into the city, intent on finding that alien girl. What do they plan to do with her?

"They told us not to interfere. Maybe we should listen." The robed girl suggested.

I couldn't just stand here and let those monsters capture that alien girl. To be honest, I think those monsters would destroy us regardless of whether we interfered or not. So while the others watched the lizard things continue to search the city, I began to head in the same direction that I was going before.

"You're still going after her, aren't you?" the robed girl asked me.

I nodded. "That girl isn't the threat here, those…. things are. I don't care what they say. I'm still helping her." I told them.

"Count me in." Robin said.

Wait. Didn't a moment ago he wanted to bring her down like a criminal? And now he wanted to help?

"I still don't know if I believe you about her being innocent, but I think it's safe to say that those things are the bigger threat right now." He said.

I smiled in thanks. I'm glad someone was agreeing with me…. somewhat anyway.

"Can we help?" Beast Boy asked both of us.

"I could use all the help I can get." I told him.

Cyborg groaned in disagreement for a second, but afterwards it seemed like he was in too. He stood in front of us and said, "This is crazy! But…. eh… I got nothing better to do right now, so count me in."

Robin looked somewhat annoyed at the thought of being assisted by this many people, but after a moment he gave in to the idea.

"Well…. I suppose I could team up just this once." He said.

With that we all started to head in the direction the alien girl flew off. Well, almost all of us. The robed girl stayed behind. I was going to try and convince her to help us, but Robin told me he would try to do it.

"Are you in?" he asked her.

All four of us were watching and waiting for a response.

"….I'm not really the hero type…" she said, "Trust me… if you knew what I really was… you wouldn't want me around…"

Despite hearing that Robin went up to her and held out his hand.

"I know enough." He told her.

She gave a weak smile and took his hand. Looks like she was in.

A minute later we were all gathered in a small alleyway, trying to conceal ourselves from the lizard things that were still searching the city. Robin was peeking out, waiting for the moment when the monsters searched another area.

The robed girl was standing at the back of the alley. I decided to try and talk to her. I felt like I needed to thank her for helping before.

"Hey, thanks for the help before. I probably wouldn't have been able to help that girl if you hadn't stopped the others." I told to her.

"No problem. It's the least I could do. Especially after I knocked you down earlier." she said.

"Oh… yeah… sorry about that." I said, "By the way, I never got your name."

She paused for a moment, but then responded.

"You can just call me Raven." She said.

After that, Robin had everyone gather around to discuss how we were going to go about finding the alien girl. He consulted me first.

"Link. You said before you were able to understand her. Whatever way you did that, do you think you could use it to find her?" he asked me.

"Err… sorry, I really have no idea how that happened." I said while being a little embarrassed.

Robin sighed in disappointment, and then directed his attention towards the others.

"Okay… we need some way to track her." He said.

"She's close." Raven said out of nowhere.

We all stared at her while looking somewhat confused. While doing so Raven had an awkward look on her face.

"….I can sense things." She said.

"Oh… Well that makes sense." I said.

Everyone then gave me slightly annoyed looks. I then just realized it was because of what I had just said.

"Heh… sorry." I said while holding the back of my head in embarrassment.

Beast Boy suggested that he would try to find her scent. At first I wondered how he would do it, but then I saw him transform into a green dog. I forgot… he could change into animals.

Cyborg also had a way to find her. He pulled up his sleeve, revealing a mechanical arm.

"There's a sonic analyzer built into my arm. If she's nearby, I'll hear it." He said.

A sonic analyzer? What on earth was that? As long as it could help us find the alien girl, I guess it didn't matter at the time. A moment later, Beast Boy changed back into a human, saying that he caught her scent. Right after that I heard a thumping sound from Cyborg's arm, coming from the analyzer he mentioned a second ago. He said he was hearing her heartbeat.

We tracked these readings to a video store that had a huge hole in the side. It looked as if the wall had been melted away to make the hole.

"She must be here." I said.

"Really? I couldn't tell from the giant hole melted into the wall!" Beast Boy said sarcastically.

Ignoring that I went through the hole, with the others following. The results from both methods of tracking were right, the alien girl was here. She was at the snack booth, voraciously eating whatever she could find there, not even bothering to remove any wrappers. How long had she gone without food?

"Uhh… those taste better without the wrappers." Beast Boy told her weakly.

She had heard this, because right after wiping her mouth off, she turned around and snarled at us while her hands glowed with the same green energy as before. The others began to back away, trying to tell her to calm down. But I stood in place.

"Calm down. We're friends…" I told her, "Right?"

"Friends?" She asked.

I nodded. She looked at me for a moment, probably remembering our encounter before. Her attitude quickly turned aggressive again.

"Why? For what purpose did you free me?!" she demanded.

"Didn't I tell you? There wasn't any reason. I was just being nice." I said.

"Nice…" she said, pondering for a moment afterward. "We do not have this word on my planet. Closest is rutha. Weak."

When I heard that, something in my mind just snapped. She had just compared the concept of being nice, a concept I had essentially devoted myself to being, with being weak. Weak?! That made me angry. The look on my face then turned from friendly (or at least trying to be) to aggressive, almost as aggressive as she looked. Also, for some reason, I could've sworn I felt a slight burn in my left arm.

"What did you just say?" I asked her with an aggressive tone.

Seeing my aggressive appearance, the alien girl had a hint of fear in her face. The others looked about as shocked as she was. I began to approach her. She was backing away slightly, though it was hard to tell. She could've attacked me, shot me with that green energy like before. But she didn't.

"You're not from around here, I understand that. But you should know that the two words you just compared are nothing alike!" I exclaimed. "Being nice is to be understanding, willing to help others, and willing to open your heart to someone else. It's not even close to the meaning of weak!"

It didn't look like it, but my aggressive attitude was affecting her. I had never felt anger like this before, I don't know what was coming over me. However, I soon got it under control, and came back to the reason we tracked her down.

"So maybe you could be nice, and tell us why those monsters are keeping you prisoner?" I asked her.

Both the aggressiveness and the fear she was displaying faded after hearing that. Her eyes stopped glowing and she lowered her hands. Then she responded.

"Not 'prisoner'. I am…. 'prize'." She said.

"What?" I asked, looking just as confused as the others.

"The Gordanians, those 'monsters' as you call them, are to deliver me to the citadel, where I am to live out my days as their servant." She said.

"And the Citadel are…..?" Raven began to ask.

"Not nice." The alien girl answered.

"What were you even doing on their ship in the first place?" I asked her.

When she heard me ask that, she looked sad. Her turned her head down and turned it away slightly.

"They… took me… from my home planet." She told me.

What?! They took her against her will?! Looks like Robin was wrong about her. She wasn't a criminal. She was a victim!

"If that's the case, you're not going with them! I'll make sure of it!" I told her.

When she heard that, I saw a glint of hope in her eyes. "Thank you…" I heard her say under her breath.

"Yeah, don't worry. We'll keep them from taking you away." Robin said.

"Uhh… when you say 'we,' you mean all of us, right?" Beast Boy asked Robin.

Right after that, another hole was blasted into the wall, and from it came a number of those Gordanians. All of them were carrying bizarre looking spears.

"Seize the prisoner!" one of them shouted.

But as one of them attempted to fly at her, his face met the wrong end of my shield as I thrust it into him, knocking him back to where he had been standing. I turned around, looking as angry as I did before.

"You want her?" I asked them. "You'll have to get through me!"

I drew my sword and pointed it toward them, and it glowed blue as I activated my powers, with my eyes glowing blue along with it.

"Whoa…" Cyborg proclaimed, surprised when he saw my sword and eyes glow.

The others looked surprised too, though none of them had seen me actually fight, so it wasn't that surprising. There were at least ten of them ambushing us. We weren't going down without a fight though.


	7. Chapter 7: Trogaar's Vengeance

**Chapter Seven: Trogaar's Vengeance**

There we were, outnumbered six to ten, but we weren't going to let that stop us. As soon as the gordanians launched an attack, each of us sprang in to action, fighting them off. Robin was using his staff and martial arts moves that I had never seen before. Beast Boy changed into various animals and fought them in those forms. Cyborg was taking it to them with his bare hands. His cybernetic enhancements no doubt gave him enhanced strength. Raven was attacking by enshrouding various objects, such as street-light poles and parts of vehicles, in dark energy and using those to fight off the monsters.

The alien girl (whose name I still did not know) was using her green energy attacks and supernatural strength to drive them away, like she did against us before. And then there was me. While using my powers I was able to dodge moves quicker and attack faster. The gordanians were apparently not used to fighting such a focused opponent. Just to be safe though, I parried some of their attacks with my shield. Whenever I had an opening, I'd hit them with my sword. It wasn't able to cut them, but the force of my blows were still driving them back.

A moment later, I noticed one of the gordanians had pummeled the alien girl into the ground, so hard that it made a crater. It was about to attack her with an electrical blast from its spear, but I intervened by bashing it with my shield and then attacking it with a three-slash combo. My attack sent him into the wall of a building nearby. My attention turned to the alien girl, who was still in the crater.

"You alright?" I asked her.

She didn't say anything, but she gave me a quick smile, which obviously meant that she was okay. As the battle raged on, the gordanians quickly realized that they were fighting a losing battle and retreated back to their base.

"That's right! Fly back to your ship you reptilian freaks!" I shouted at them as they flew away.

While we witnessed their retreat, the alien girl thanked all of us for fighting them off. A split second later though, I felt my powers fail, and I slumped down in exhaustion. The alien girl gasped and the others gathered around me in concern.

"Dude! Are you alright!" Beast Boy asked hastily.

"Don't worry…. Just give me a minute… I'll be fine…" I said while hyperventilating.

I was so focused on the battle at the time that I didn't take note of how long I had my powers on for. I really needed to use them more conservatively.

I had noticed that Cyborg's jacket had been ripped to shreds in the battle, revealing just how much of his body was mechanical.

"Aww man… my suit." Cyborg groaned.

"So? You look way cooler without it!" Beast Boy said, trying to cheer him up.

"Yeah… Like I'm going to take fashion advice from the kid in the goofy mask." Cyborg said sarcastically, making note of Beast Boy's rather…. peculiar mask.

"Goofy? My mask is cool…. isn't it?" Beast Boy asked us.

It actually did look kind of silly. I wasn't the only one who thought that, because Raven was also shaking her head in disagreement.

"But… what about my secret identity?" he asked.

"What secret identity? You're green." Raven told him.

Beast Boy tried to come up with a reason, but he couldn't. So he eventually gave in and took off the mask. Secret identity? What was that supposed to mean?

After that, Robin informed us that this wasn't over. My strength had returned to me and I was standing up straight again just in time to hear this.

"Now that we've interfered…" he started to say, but the alien girl cut him off.

"Trogaar will strike harder." She said.

I was assuming that Trogaar was the name of the gordanian that we saw on the projection earlier, their leader.

"It is only a matter of time before…" she started to say.

Before she could finish though, the tower that had been placed on the island off the coast earlier once again projected Trogaar's image.

"Fools! The Earth scum were warned!" he demanded. "Your insolence shall be punished! Your city shall be destroyed!"

After that he image faded, and that gigantic spaceship we saw earlier reappeared over top of the tower. A very loud noise came from it and the front part of it lit up. We all saw it. The front of the ship was charging up. It was a laser! And it was pointed right at the city!

"Let me get this straight…" Beast Boy said. "After wrecking a video store and a perfectly good pizza place, now we've managed to make a giant space gecko mad enough to destroy our entire town?!"

"Sounds about right." Raven answered sarcastically.

I knew things looked bad, but I knew if we all did something we might be able to stop it. That's what I was thinking, but before I could tell everyone, the alien girl became angry again, with her attention focused on me.

"All of the fault is yours! I demanded that you leave me alone, but you insisted on the being nice!" she shouted at me, right in my face.

"How is this my fault?! I've just been trying to help! You could've told me about those things in the first place! But no, what did you do? You hit me! You blast me! You….kiss me. And you don't even think to mention that a bunch of space lizards are after you and have a weapon that could level this entire area?!" I shouted back at her.

The others were having their own arguments, but they weren't as intense as the one the alien girl and I were having.

"Well, you…..!" she started to say before I cut her off.

"No! Don't blame this on me! You are the one who crashed here! You are the one who led them here! But instead of doing anything about it, or trying to prevent it, all you were concerned about… WAS YOURSELF!" I shouted at her angrily.

When she heard that, she at first tried to come up with a counter statement, but she couldn't find one. Her expression changed from angry, to sad, and to my surprise, I saw tears forming in her eyes. I just did the one thing I hoped I'd never do to anyone: I hurt her feelings.

I tried to calm her down. Tried to take back everything I had just said. But with the others still arguing I had a difficult time trying to do so. Fortunately, Raven apparently couldn't stand the arguing anymore.

"QUIET!" she shouted.

That caught all of our attention, and everyone stopped arguing, and each of us stared at Raven with various looks on our faces. With all of us staring Raven felt awkward, again. We quickly came to our senses though, and Robin decided on what we should do.

"It doesn't matter how any of us got into this. We're in it." Robin said. "And we're going to get out of it. Together."

He then held out his hand in front of him in an attempt to get all of us to join in. Really? Robin, who was so against being on a team, was now the one to try and convince us to team up? Rather ironic, huh?

But regardless, I agreed with him 100%, so I placed my hand on top of his. The next person to do so was the alien girl, probably still thinking about what I had said to her before. After that both Beast Boy and Cyborg joined in. And then finally, after a few seconds of thought, Raven joined in too.

We decided on a plan of action. Raven, using her powers, would teleport us into the gordanian spaceship. Once there, we would deactivate the laser and take Trogaar down.

Once we were inside, we hid in a crevice in one of the halls to keep from being seen. Robin was about to proceed down the hall, but I quickly stopped him. I had heard several gordanians heading this way, and I was right. I have really good hearing, probably because my ears are pointed a little. When they passed we all quietly sighed in relief.

"We need to find the command bridge." Robin told us.

"Command bridge?" I asked him.

"The area in the ship that controls it." He informed me.

I confirmed that I understood. I didn't hear any more gordanians coming at the moment, so I decided to scout ahead. The others followed quietly.

I was keeping an eye out for any guards and for a way to the command bridge. But at the same time, I was thinking about what I had said to the alien girl before. How I had shouted in her face like that. I felt like a jerk. I had to apologize to her. But when I turned around to go speak to her, she was already standing in front of me.

"I bring you…. apology…" she said.

"No. I'm the one who should be apologizing. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that." I told her.

"You… had every right to yell. What you said was all true. All of this is my fault." She told me.

"No… it isn't." I said. "Well… you did crash here, and they did come here because of that. But… you didn't do it on purpose. And you wanted to be left alone… so that they wouldn't hurt anyone. And the whole 'tough girl' act was so that people would leave you alone."

"….You… knew about that?" she asked, looking surprised.

"It wasn't that hard to figure out. I… can be good at seeing the truth in people sometimes." I said with a bit of awkwardness in my tone.

"You… really are a nice person, Link." She said. "On my home planet, only my K'norfka has ever shown me such kindness…"

"Well… you can trust me when I say that… you may encounter a lot of that here…" I told her.

After hearing that, she just kept staring at me and smiling. In fact, her smile was really…. cute. And her eyes were still incredibly pretty. I felt really strange as I looked into her eyes, but I wasn't sure why at first. Then I had a thought. Could it be because I was…?

Before I could confirm it though, both of us were interrupted by Beast Boy. He alerted us to the fact that we had just been discovered! Three gordanians came rushing at us. We were able to drive them away though, and afterwards we hastened our search for the command bridge. Fortunately, we soon found it. Unfortunately, it was crawling with gordanians.

There was a large throne-like seat in the center of the room, and upon it sat Trogaar, the one responsible for all of this. He was even more grotesque in person. Rather than getting up, he commanded his troops to attack us. Except for the surroundings it wasn't much different from the previous battle. Robin beat them back with his physical combat, while Beast Boy showed off more of the animals he could turn into, and Cyborg smacked them around with fists. Raven was using her dark powers like before, but strangely it seemed like she was holding back.

The alien girl had my back while I was swatting gordanians left and right with my sword. It was tough, but it was about to get tougher, because after a few minutes, Trogaar himself entered the battle. And unfortunately for me, it seemed like I was his target.

"So you are the fool who decided to interfere with us." Trogaar said as he stood before me. "Link, is it?"

"What?!" I gasped. "How do you know that?!"

"You didn't think I wouldn't send scouts to this world before invading now, did you?" he asked me. "Yes. When we tracked the girl here, my scouts also witnessed your… encounter with the prisoner."

I backed away slowly. I was a little scared. They had been watching us beforehand?!

"I also heard reports of the battle you had against my troops on the surface. What I heard from that report intrigued me." he told me. "I want to see what you can do, kid. After all, there may be room on my ship for another prize."

If he thought he was going to take me too, he was sorely mistaken. I had tried to withhold from using my powers during this fight, but against an opponent like this, I don't think my regular skills would be enough. I stood ready and activated my powers, and Trogaar saw both my blade and my eyes glow with blue light. Trogaar chortled.

"Interesting. But it'll take more than a little light show to defeat the mighty Lord Trogaar!" he said menacingly.

Ignoring what he said, I rushed towards him with my sword held out. He dodged the first few attacks, but the last strike managed to hit him on the side. However, it did little more than make him stumble for a second. Trogaar laughed.

"My apologies, was that supposed to hurt?" he said mockingly. "I guess you're not aware of just how resilient gordanian armor is. It's going to take more than that pathetic excuse for a sword of yours to put a dent in this!"

Despite what he said, I wasn't going to give up. Then at that moment, while Trogaar's attention was on me, the alien girl swooped in and punched him straight in the jaw, which sent him flying into the wall. She was about to follow up with another attack, but I urged her to stop.

"Leave him to me." I told her.

"But…" she began to say.

"I want to make him pay for what he's done, personally." I said.

She was a bit reluctant to agree at first, but she eventually backed down. Trogaar had recovered by then and came at me with a series of physical attacks. I was able to dodge all of them, and retaliate with an attack of my own, which made him stumble again. Maybe my attacks couldn't damage him, but maybe they'd be enough to wear him out.

All of the sudden, I felt my strength leave me and I was exhausted, which only meant one thing: I had been using my powers for over ten minutes… again! Seriously, I needed to learn to use my powers less recklessly. It couldn't have been at a worse time too, because Trogaar had regained his footing and noticed me in my weakened state.

"What's the matter? Out of steam already? Disappointing…" Trogaar said.

While I was still attempting to recover, Trogaar grabbed me by the scruff of my neck and held me up trying to strangle me, just like in my encounter with that masked man a few days ago. The alien girl and the others saw this and tried to intervene, but their attempt was blocked by several of Trogaar's guards. At that moment, Robin remembered Cyborg's sonic analyzer and asked him if he could rewire it into a weapon. As Trogaar's attention was fixed on me at the time, they had enough time to try.

"You are a curiosity kid…" Trogaar said menacingly to me. "Your appearance is that of a mere human, yet this strange power dwells within you…"

Some of my energy had returned, but it still wasn't enough to break free of his grip.

"And your foolish attempt to aid the prisoner… one you have never met, and yet you feel the need to risk your life to assist her as if you have known her forever." Trogaar said mockingly. "How pathetic… why would you go to such lengths to help a stranger? A stranger who could likely care less!"

The moment I heard that last part, something in my head snapped again, and I'm pretty sure I felt my left arm burn again. That rage I had felt before was back. This time however, it gave me the strength to break free of Trogaar's grip, much to his surprise. We both regained our footing afterwards.

"I didn't need a reason! I helped her out of the kindness of my own heart! But a monster like you wouldn't understand that!" I yelled at him.

The blue light in my eyes had turned from a simple glow, to a surge of flaming aura. Everyone around had noticed that, including Trogaar.

"Boy…what are you?" he asked me.

"….I'm a hero." I answered.

Trogaar's response was a hideously evil laugh. He lunged towards me again, but I dodged his blow so fast, it almost seemed like I vanished. I felt stronger than I had ever been before. I was right behind him, and while his back was turned, I mercilessly slashed his back. Trogaar yelled in pain and stumbled horribly, for my attack had done more than just knock him back.

My attack had cut through his scales and left an open scar on his back. It was only bleeding a little, but I could tell from his reaction that it was painful.

"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THAT YOU LITTLE WORM!" Trogaar viciously yelled at me.

He was about to attack me again, but someone interrupted him. It was Raven, who was holding up Beast Boy, who looked gravely injured. She looked annoyed, and I could tell she had had enough of this.

"Leave my friends alone!" she told him.

During all of this, I could feel a strange energy flowing through the entire spaceship, and that energy was spiraling towards Raven. It appeared that it was being gathered into the gemstone on her forehead, because her gem had become enveloped in dark fire.

"Azarath…Metroin…Zinthos!" she chanted.

After the last word, all of that dark energy was unleashed in a devastating attack that nearly blew the spaceship in two! It didn't, but the attack must've knocked out its engine or something, because the spaceship crashed into the bay and floated atop the water.

The strength of that attack also knocked everyone out, everyone except Raven. We were all able to recover though. The gordanians weren't though. They were strewn about ship lying unconscious…. maybe even dead. As I got back on my feet, Raven weakly approached me while still holding up Beast Boy.

"Are you okay?" she asked me.

"Yeah… I'll be fine." I told her.

I may have spoken too soon, because from out of the smoke stumbled Trogaar. Unbelievable! He survived that?! Not only was he alive, but he looked really angry. His claws lengthened as he approached us.

"I… will not… allow myself… to be humiliated… by a bunch of children!" he proclaimed.

But before he could attempt to rip us to shreds, a light-blue laser hit him in the back, right where I had damaged him. He screamed in agony, and then fell to his knees. The one who had fired the laser was Cyborg, who had successfully managed to convert his analyzer into a cannon.

"Alright… I'm only gonna say this once. Boo-yah!" he said.

Actually he'll end up saying that more than just once, but that comes much later. In the meantime, we all made sure everyone wasn't too badly injured. They seemed concerned about me the most, saying that I had taken most of the beating in my fight against Trogaar, but I assured them that I was fine.

The alien girl was observing Trogaar, who was still collapsed on the floor of the ship.

"Is he….?" She started to ask.

"Dead? No, I can hear him breathing. He's just used up all of his energy." I said.

The others gathered around to see if it was true. Trogaar was definitely alive, but after that last attack, he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

"So what should we do with him?" Cyborg asked.

"We're not just going to send his butt back into space where he belongs?" Beast Boy asked.

Considering that the alien girl was with us, I found Beast Boy's question somewhat offensive. But I knew what he meant.

"If we just let him go back to his world, what would stop him from doing all of this all over again?" I asked as an example. "No. If you ask me, I say we send him to jail."

"Are you sure the prison here would be enough to hold him?" Cyborg asked.

"Don't worry," Robin said. "I know of a prison to send him to, one that even he couldn't escape."

After we had arranged for Trogaar to be hauled off to this particular prison that Robin had mentioned earlier, we all gathered on the small island off the coast, the one that still had the gordanian tower on it. The sun had begun to rise, and the scenery was spectacular. We were all watching it, but I was watching it a bit further away than the others. After a moment, they had noticed this.

"Hey, Link?" Robin asked. "You okay?"

"I'm fine…" I claimed. "I'm just waiting for that alien girl to come back."

"Link, I'm pretty sure that she's headed back to her home planet by now." Cyborg told me.

Could she really had left already? I hoped that she hadn't… I never even got her name. However, my worries were soon put to rest.

"Don't jump to conclusions." Raven said, pointing to who was behind me afterwards.

The alien girl had come back. I turned around to greet her, but I was in for a surprise. She looked different. She wasn't wearing the same outfit as before. She was now wearing a purple tank top and skirt. She looked cute. Really cute. My whole face almost turned red when I saw her.

"Please… I look… nice?" she asked.

I came to my senses, and nodded to answer her question.

"I… never found out your name. Unless… is it still of no importance to me?" I asked her.

After I asked her that, she smiled and I saw a sparkle in her eyes.

"It is important now. In your language it would be… Star… Fire." She said.

Star. Fire. Starfire? That was an unusual name. But I liked it. It was just as unusual as my name.

"Welcome to Earth, Starfire." Robin said to her. It was reassuring to know that he saw her as a friend now, instead of trying to hurt her.

"I thank all of you for your bravery and help. And…. I wish to ask permission… to remain here." She told us.

"You… want to stay… here… on Earth?" I asked her.

"Yes. I wish to stay here, where the people are most strange. But… also most... kind." She told us.

She was looking at me when she said that last part. That time my face did turn red, and so did hers, as we turned our heads away slightly while still looking at each other.

"You don't need our permission to stay." Raven told her.

"But if you want our friendship, you've got it." Robin told her.

She had my friendship from the start, though I'm glad everyone here was now extending their hands in friendship.

"I guess we could all use some new friends…" Cyborg said.

"We did kind of make a good team." Beast Boy said.

I agreed with him, and I wasn't the only one. Robin suggested that we should keep in touch, and then handed each of us a small round communication device. Cyborg had made them, from his own circuitry. As long as we had these, if there was any trouble, we knew who to call.

Unfortunately, not even this communicator could help me during the perilous journey that I would soon take.


	8. Chapter 8: A New Journey

**Chapter Eight: A New Journey**

So much had happened in the last few hours that it was rather hard to believe it all happened. I befriended a girl from space, teamed up with four other individuals, most of them with powers as strange as mine, and helped take down an alien invasion! Now we were all gathered upon the island off the coast in a small celebration of our victory. The others were gathered around each other and engaging in friendly conversation, including the alien girl… err… I mean Starfire.

I was there too, but I was keeping a distance. I was nervous being around this many other people and I wasn't entirely sure how they would react towards me now that the fighting was over. I took a look over to where the others were. They were talking about themselves, though not really giving any particular details. Most of my attention though was on Starfire, who still looked…. amazing.

A few minutes later, she turned her head and saw me looking at her. My face turned red and I quickly looked away.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked myself. Ever since our talk onboard the gordanian spaceship, whenever I look at her I feel all… weird.

"Link?" Starfire asked me. "Are you okay?"

I was thinking so much about this whole thing that I hadn't noticed that she had walked up to me (or maybe she floated. I don't know, I wasn't looking).

"Uhh… yeah, I'm fine." I told her with a hint of weakness in my voice. "I'm just… not used to being around people…. that actually want me around."

"You mean… you were telling the truth before? That no person has ever befriended you?" Starfire asked me.

I nodded in response.

"I had no reason to lie to you. Everything I've said to you up until now is the truth." I told her.

"I can't even be sure if they actually want me around." I said while gesturing towards the others. "I mean… it was a team-up to save the city. But now that the battle is over… I'm afraid they might reject me… just like everyone else…"

After I had said that, Starfire took my hand. This surprised me greatly, and when I turned to look at her, there was a very friendly smile across her face.

"You don't need to be frightened about that, Link. We're all friends here now… you included." She told me.

Hearing that made me feel better. Well, that and seeing her cute smile. She then insisted that I come with her back to the others, so they could all hear my story. I told her that there wasn't much to tell, but regardless, I went anyway.

But before we got there, I heard a voice.

"Link…. Chosen hero of the spirits…" it said. "You have done well in completing the task I requested of you. Now… once the ring is delivered, return to my spring. There is another task you must undertake."

I knew whose voice that was. It was Lanayru. He… wanted me to go back? To leave all of my new friends? I really didn't want to, but… I don't think I had much of a choice.

When Starfire and I joined the others, they apparently had many questions for me. But I couldn't answer them now.

"Hey everyone, I have some unfortunate news…" I began to say. "I… have to go now."

Everyone was a bit shocked to hear that, which wasn't surprising because this news was unexpected, even to me. Starfire seemed to be the most shocked to hear this.

"What?! Go? But… I only just met you…" she said.

"You've gotta be joking dude!" Beast Boy told me. "We only met about six hours ago! And now you have to leave!"

They all looked at me with disappointed looks. Well except for Raven. Most of the time, her face hardly showed any emotion.

"I'm sorry, but… there's something I have to do back where I came from. Something that can't wait." I told them.

"Well, I guess we can't stop you. And whatever you have to do… it sounds important." Robin told me.

"Whatever it is, just make sure you come back in one piece." Cyborg told me.

"I'll be alright. Don't worry." I told them.

I began to walk in the opposite direction back towards Lanayru Village. Then I realized something: I was on an island across the coast! I had forgotten! I turned around to ask if anyone could give me a lift over the water. Fortunately, Starfire volunteered.

When I was back on the other side of the coast, I looked towards the mountains in the background of the city. I needed to travel over them to get back to the Village.

"You came from that direction?" Starfire asked.

I hadn't realized she was still behind me. I guess she wanted to say good-bye. Well… at least good-bye for now. It was a good thing too, because I realized I had forgotten to give her Lanayru's ring.

"Yeah. Over those mountains is the Village that I grew up in. That's where I need to go." I told her.

"It seems like quite a long journey." She said. "I… could fly you there… if you want…"

"That's nice of you to offer. But you don't have to do that… I'll be fine walking" I told her.

Starfire looked sad, and her head was down. I asked her what was wrong.

"It's just… I'm going to miss you…" she told me.

"I'll miss you too." I said to her. "But before I go, there's something I want you to have."

I then pulled the ring out from my pocket and held it out in my hand for her to see. When she took it, I could've sworn it glowed just a little.

"It's beautiful… thank you." she told me.

"That ring is actually one of a pair. I have the other one." I said while showing her the ring I had on my hand. "You may think this is crazy, but I got these rings from a guardian spirit. I was hoping that I'd be able to give it to a friend… if I ever got one."

Starfire gave a small giggle, and then smiled at me again.

"I don't quite understand why no one would've ever wanted to be your friend, Link." She told me. "You're a wonderful person."

My face turned red again after hearing that, but I quickly got it back to normal.

"I wish I could give you something to remember me by…" she said.

"Don't worry about that. Let's just say… I already have a way to remember you." I told her.

"Right! Our new communicators!" she said.

I was actually thinking about that strange gemstone that formed when I caught one of her attacks (which I later found out she called "starbolts") from earlier. But the communicator was a good way to remember her as well.

"You will be back someday…. right?" she asked me.

"Of course! I'll take care of what I need too and be back as soon as I can. I promise." I told her.

Her eyes sparkled after hearing that, and before I could react in any way, she came up and hugged me. Once again, my face turned red, and my heart was pounding. This was actually the first time I had been hugged… ever. I enjoyed it, and hugged her back.

After the hug, I once again began to walk in the opposite direction, but stopped one last time. Just to assure Starfire that I'd use the communicator to call whenever I could. And that I'd never forget her.

About five days later, I was only about a mile from Lanayru Village. Whatever Lanayru wanted, I wanted to get it done, so I could go back to my new friends. While walking, I was holding my communicator in my hand. I remember about two hours after I had left, Starfire had called on it, and then again an hour later. While I was delighted that she cared that much, I hoped that she wouldn't call at a bad time.

I was nearing the village when something very bad happened. I'm not sure what happened, but all of a sudden, I lost my footing and fell down. My communicator flew out of my hand and hit a rock. When I went to retrieve it, I was in for a shock. The force of the impact had broken it! I tried calling the others with it, but to no avail. I wanted to go back and get it fixed, but I was already so close to the village. I decided I would get it fixed after I visited with Lanayru.

Soon afterwards I arrived at the Village and headed for the spring. It looked the same as it did the last time I was there. As I approached the spring, the water and rocks started glowing, and from the water rose a gigantic glowing serpent encircling a shining sphere. It was Lanayru.

"Greetings Link." He said. "You have done well in completing the task that I requested of you."

"So, Starfire was the right person?" I asked.

"Indeed. Though hailing from another world, she is to play an important role in these events." Lanayru told me.

"I don't understand. You talked as if you knew she was coming." I said to Lanayru.

"Her arrival was long foreseen by we light spirits." He told me.

Her arrival was foreseen?! Does this mean my encounter with her was not just by chance? That it had been predetermined? I wonder if that weird feeling I had when I was around her had something to do with that.

"However, now is not the time to discuss this. I have another task for you to undertake. One of much greater importance." Lanayru told me.

I got my mind back on what was happening here and straightened up to listen.

"You must seek out the fragments of an artifact known as the spirit key." Lanayru told me. "Each of the four fragments is guarded a Light Spirit. You must seek out the other three light spirits and collect the shards to reform the spirit key."

"What is the spirit key?" I asked.

"The spirit key is an artifact born from spirit energy. Its power is said to hold the key to vanquishing evil. Long ago, an evil force sought to destroy it, but we light spirits intervened by separating it into four pieces and hiding them within our provinces, which lie in the four corners of the world." Lanayru answered.

"Wait. Does that mean I have to travel across the world to find them?!" I asked, hoping that it wasn't true.

It was however, because Lanayru nodded.

"But… that will take forever!" I said. "I just made five new friends! I want see them again! Couldn't I at least go back to have my communicator fixed!"

"I am sorry Link, but this task cannot wait. There is already an evil force attempting to prevent you from obtaining the shards. The longer you delay, the more likely that it will succeed." He told me.

I was still trembling, upset from the fact that I would not see my friends for who knows how long! And my communicator was still broken. I wouldn't be able to talk to them either. Then I remembered what Robin had said before: "Whatever you have to do… it sounds important."

This 'spirit key' did sound very important, especially if it held the key to vanquishing evil. And someone or something was trying to destroy it. I couldn't let that happen, not only for my sake, but for my friends as well. So I straightened up and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"To retrieve each of the shards, you must pass the trials of the spirits who guard them." Lanayru said. "You have already passed my trial, so I now bestow to you the sapphire spirit shard."

A bright blue light flashed between me and Lanayru. When the light faded, there was a small glowing blue crystal floating where the light had been. It descended slowly, and I caught it before it hit the ground. As I held it, I could definitely feel a strange power coming from it.

"The next shard lies far to the east, across the ocean, within the forests of Europe. There you will find the lands guarded by the spirit Faron. Keep the shard and yourself safe as you travel. And make haste, for the darkness… is now hunting you." Lanayru told me.

This worried me a little, but I wasn't going to give up. I helped take down an alien invasion! So I knew I could finish this task.

"Still… even though you must move quickly, do not push yourself too hard. And do not worry too much… you will see your friends again, Link. I assure you." Lanayru said before he vanished back into the spring.

A few hours later, I had gathered whatever I could to help me on this journey. Using my compass, I pinpointed which direction was east, and from a map I found I located Europe. It was incredibly far away. I hoped that I'd be able to find a faster way to get there, because I don't think walking alone would cover it. It felt intimidating, but like I said before, I wasn't going to give up. I starting running east, beginning my new adventure. I'd find a way… I hoped.

The spirit was right about the darkness hunting me though. For little did I know… I was being followed.


	9. Chapter 9: Demon Lord Ghirahim

**Chapter Nine: Demon Lord Ghirahim**

It had been what seemed like seven months since I had left Lanayru Village on this new adventure: to collect the spirit shards from the light spirits and reform the spirit key. Fortunately I had found several ways to travel besides on foot. Such as hitching a ride on a train freight car several times, and there was even a person I managed to convince to let me ride in the back of their truck. They weren't the most comfortable ways to travel, but I took what I could get. And now I was on the east coast of America, and the only thing separating me from Europe was miles and miles of ocean.

After searching all over for a boat or something to get me across the ocean, I came across a huge ocean liner docked near the pier. Hoping that this was my ticket to Europe, I went to ask if I could come aboard. Unfortunately my luck ran out there, because I actually needed a ticket to get on the boat. Disappointed, I headed in the opposite direction, trying to think of a way to cross the ocean. Then all of the sudden, I heard someone calling quietly from an alleyway.

"Hey, Kid. Come here for a second." The mysterious person said.

I couldn't see who it was, but I was wary. I approached with my hand gripping my sword, just in case this person tried anything funny.

"Oh, you can let go of that. There's no need for violence here." The man said.

Whoever he was, he came out of the shadows a little. He was slightly taller than me, and wrapped all around in a red cloak, so much that only part of his face was showing.

"I couldn't help but notice you trying to board that ocean liner." He said while staring at me with his visible, violet-colored eye.

"Umm… yeah. But I can't. I need a ticket. And I don't have any money to get one." I said.

"Ah, but you're in luck my friend! For you see… I have such a ticket right here." He told me, pulling out a single white ticket out of his robe.

"But I don't have any…." I began to say.

"Oh, I have no need for money." He said. "Consider this ticket yours. Free of charge."

He then handed me the ticket, snickering a bit as he did.

"But wait, why would you just give me…" I began to ask him, but before I could finish, he vanished.

What had just happened? I guess it didn't matter much. I had a ticket for the boat now.

I went back to the boat and showed my ticket to the people in charge. After it had been verified, I was allowed on board. Next stop, Europe, and the next spirit shard!

As it would just so happen, the ocean liner was fantastic! There was a pool on deck, a huge dining hall, and many other rooms for amusement. I even got my own room to stay in, which is where I spent most of the trip. While in my room, I would often pull out the strange gemstone that had formed when I met Starfire. I decided to call it the 'spirit gem' because it felt like there was a piece of each of our spirit's within it. One thing was for sure, whenever I held it, I'd always think of her.

About two days into the trip, the ship was heading into a harsh storm. The wind alone was making the whole ship wobble. It seemed to be a natural occurrence at first, but a few moments later, I heard screaming. It was coming from the dining hall. I quickly rushed out of my room to see what was going on. Many passengers were screaming, and attempting to flee the room, and I could soon see why. Scattered throughout the hall, were three large hairy black creatures with boar-like faces. Monsters were attacking the ship!

Almost everyone had cleared out of the room, all except for one person. A young girl with pure white hair and dressed in white was still in the room, and the monsters were blocking her escape. There was a good chance that those monsters would rip her apart, but I wasn't going to let that happen. I drew my sword and braced my shield, but remembering the battle against Trogaar six months ago, I decided not to use my powers, at least not yet. I approached the monsters.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" I yelled at them.

They left her alone alright, because now they were after me. They're attacks were strong enough to punch huge holes in the walls, but they were slow. Easy to dodge even without my powers. I was able to dispatch the first two after a while. The third one put up a bit more of a fight, but eventually fell to my blade.

I put my sword back in my scabbard, and walked over to the girl.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

She nodded. "Yes, I am fine now. You have my thanks." She said.

"It was no trouble. But where did those… things come from?" I asked.

Right after I had asked that, I heard someone clapping slowly. I then saw who was doing it. Behind us, across the room, was a man wrapped in a red cloak. The same strange man who gave me the boat ticket!

"Bravo! Very good show! I had expected those beasts I had summoned to tear you apart. But here you are… not in pieces. You're stronger than you look boy." He said.

"You!" I proclaimed. "You're the one who gave me the ticket for this boat! Who are you?!"

The man chortled, and then threw off his red cloak to reveal who he really was: A man with very pale skin, who wore a white unitard and a red cape. His hair was draped down over his left eye, and I saw he had pointed ears like mine (or at least one, the other wasn't visible).

"Of course. I've forgotten my manners. Allow me to introduce myself." He started. "I am the Demon Lord who wanders this world in search of… a particular something. You may call me Ghirahim."

Ghirahim? What kind of name was that?! Was this the evil that was trying to destroy the spirit key like Lanayru said?

"In truth…." He continued. "I much rather prefer to be indulged with my full title: Lord Ghirahim. But I'm not fussy… so pay it no mind."

"Why are you here?! Why did you send those monsters to attack everyone?!" I demanded.

Ghirahim chortled again, and flipped his hair in a mocking manner.

"Why to lure you out here of course. The little storm I stirred up didn't do it, so I brought some monsters to stir up some havoc. I knew a hero such as yourself couldn't ignore a cry for help." He answered.

He then disappeared suddenly, but we could still hear his voice. The girl I had just rescued backed away to the wall. Honestly I couldn't blame her. Things were getting creepy in here.

"I wish to fight you myself. I need to see what you're capable of. Besides, I've recently been having a craving for bloodshed!" Ghirahim said while he was nowhere in sight.

A second later though, he was right behind me. And if that that wasn't creepy enough, his head was right next to mine.

"Still, it hardly seems fair, being of my position, to mercilessly slaughter such a novice fighter." He told me. "That's why I promise up front not to kill you. No…. I'll just beat you to within an inch of your life!"

He flicked out his tongue like a snake after he said that. I quickly backed away from him, seriously creeped out. Ghirahim chuckled evilly, and then his red cape disappeared. He was ready to fight, having a wicked look on his face. If he wanted a fight, so be it, but I wasn't going down easy.

I readied myself for him to attack, but to my surprise he did not rush at me. Instead, he calmly walked towards me, almost as if there was no fight at all. He stood right in front of me with both hands behind his back and smiling wickedly at me. He was toying with me, trying to intimidate me. Unfortunately for me, his plan was working.

"What's wrong, kid? Afraid to attack?" he teased.

I had no idea how this strange man would fight, but I decided to take my chances and swiped at him. But my attack was stopped cold, because Ghirahim had caught the tip of my sword in mid-swing, with only two of his fingers! I struggled to get it free from his grip, but he was too strong and took the sword from me.

"Quite the sword you have here." Ghirahim said while examining it in his hands. "But as long as you keep attacking recklessly like the novice you are, you'll never land a blow."

This was bad. My opponent had my sword now, and was about to use it against me! I don't think I had any other choice at the time. I had to use my powers. Maybe then I'd be quick enough to snatch my sword back from him. With a quick focus, my powers came on. Ghirahim noticed this as my eyes glowed blue.

"Hmm… Intriguing. It seems you are able to call upon the power of the spirits. Perhaps this battle will be more interesting than I thought." Ghirahim remarked.

Power of the spirits? Is that was my powers were? I didn't have time to wonder that. I advanced quickly towards Ghirahim. He attempted to slash me with my sword, but I dodged the blow and hit him with my shield. This caused him to stumble and drop my sword. Very quickly, I picked up my sword and deactivated my powers. I remembered what happened the last time I had them on too long. I didn't want to make the same mistake.

"Well, I did not expect this. You now have my full attention, kid!" Ghirahim said.

He then snapped his fingers and a long black rapier appeared in his hand. Looks like the fight was starting for real now. Ghirahim rushed at me. I attempted to dodge his attack, but he still managed to strike my left arm. I immediately felt pain in my arm, for his attack had left a gash across it. It wasn't unbearable though, and even though it was still bleeding I shrugged off the pain and held my sword out, readying myself for whatever he was going to do next.

I expected another rush from him, but instead he snapped his fingers and vanished! A second later, I realized he had just teleported behind me. I remembered those tactics from my previous battles, where my opponent would vanish from sight to attack me from behind. I saw it coming this time though, so before Ghirahim could do anything I used a spinning sword attack. This attack caught him off guard and I managed to get a few more hits in. He then jumped back and gave a satisfied snarl.

"You're putting up more of a fight than I thought possible from such a soft boy. But can you dodge this?" Ghirahim suggested.

He then snapped his fingers again, but he didn't disappear this time. At first I wasn't sure what he was doing, but after a moment I saw. Circling around me were at least a dozen levitating dagger-like objects aimed right at me. I tried reacting, but I wasn't fast enough. One by one each dagger shot straight at me. They weren't made of metal though, they were made of some kind of energy and they burned up after each impact. Even so, they had all the pain of actual metal knives, and each one hurt like crazy!

This time the pain was more than I could bear, and I collapsed from exhaustion. Ghirahim walked up to me and looked upon my thrashed body. I was bleeding horribly, and before I went unconscious, Ghirahim said one last thing.

"Done already are we? Disappointing." He said. "You have a lot of work ahead to do if you ever hope to best me. Ta tah for now."

With that, he vanished, and I went unconscious.

When I regained consciousness I was lying on a slender white sheeted bed. My tunic had been taken off and several bandages were wrapped around the areas of my body that had been attacked. The strangest thing was that my wounds did not hurt at all anymore.

"Where am I?" I asked hoping someone would answer me.

"You're in the infirmary. I brought you here after you went unconscious." A female voice answered.

I looked around and sitting on a chair next to the bed was the white-haired girl I had rescued earlier.

"Did you heal my wounds?" I asked her.

"I did. They were quite severe, but I had no problems with treating them. I hope that you are feeling better now." She answered.

"Yeah, I feel fine now. Thanks." I said.

"It was the least I could do after you helped me before. My name is Kalena." She said.

"I'm Link." I told her.

I double-checked to make sure everything was okay. I pulled up my left sleeve and Kalena noticed the mark I had near my shoulder.

"Oh. I wasn't able to do anything about that one." She said.

"Oh. This isn't a wound. I've had it all my life. It's just a birthmark." I told her.

Still, it was rather strange-looking for a birthmark. It consisted of two circular patterns that resembled an eye. Come to think of it, back on the day that I met my friends, when I had felt a burn in my arm, it was in that particular area.

"Hey, do you have any idea who that man from before was?" I asked.

"No. I'm afraid I have never seen him before." She replied.

Just then we both heard a loud horn blow on the ship.

"Attention passengers, we have arrived in Spain. Please proceed to the boarding area when ready to exit." The ship's announcer said.

After hearing that I jumped out of the bed, prepared to leave the boat. Kalena handed me my tunic and my weapons. Apparently she had fixed them up while I was unconscious. After putting them back on, I bid farewell to Kalena and made my way towards the boarding area.

As I exited the boat, I noticed how different my surroundings were. Europe was certainly different from America. I had no second thoughts as I began walking through the European city. I had to get to the forested areas of Europe. Somewhere in those forests I would find the next light spirit, and receive the second spirit shard.


	10. Chapter 10: Faron's Trial

**Chapter Ten: Faron's Trial**

About half a month had passed since I arrived in Europe, and I was now wandering through a deep forest. I had been through several other wooded areas in the past few weeks, but none of them showed any signs of a light spirit living in them. Hopefully, things would be different with this forest. As I wandered through the woods, I came across a grassy clearing. When I was halfway across it, I heard something rustling in the thickets.

I stopped and listened carefully, bracing myself for some kind of ambush. I heard more rustling, and this time I heard several growling sounds. Whatever was around me, there was more than one of them. Suddenly from out of the thickets, a wolf came running at me. I rolled out of the way of its attack, and stood my ground. Then two more wolves came out into the clearing. These must have been what I heard before.

The wolves were staring me down and growling ferociously. One of them was a little bigger than the others and had a blackened scar across its eyes. I guess this was their leader. It was funny, because this wolf, with its scar, kind of reminded me of Robin with his mask.

All three wolves came at me again, and I was ready to counter-attack. However, right before any attacks hit, a voice echoed from the woods.

"Stop!" the voice said. "This boy is not to be harmed. Let him pass."

The wolves apparently understood the voice, for they backed off after they heard it. Even so, the leader wolf took one last look and snarled at me before disappearing into the wood.

Whose voice was that just now? I had a feeling that I knew. It must've been the light spirit. I guess I was heading in the right direction.

I continued on through the woods, and I eventually came to a large freshwater spring. It was almost identical to the spring back in Lanayru Village. I approached the edge of the spring and took a look around, hoping this was where I'd find the spirit. Fortunately I didn't have to look for long, because the rocks and water in the spring started to glow.

A golden sphere rose out of the water, and a large golden squirrel-like creature appeared along with it and lay down on top of the sphere, while its long tail curled vertically around it. The creature looked upon me with a rather unimpressed look.

"My name is Faron." It said, with a somewhat feminine voice. "I am the light spirit that guards these lands. I have been awaiting your arrival boy."

"I'm here for…" I began to say, but Faron cut me off.

"The emerald spirit shard, yes I know. But first, as I'm sure you are aware, you must pass a trial to receive it." She told me.

"I know. So what is the trial?" I asked.

"Your trial will take place in a particular area of this forest that has been come to be known as the Woods of Despair, on account of the fact that the area has been crawling with foul creatures as of late." Faron answered. "At the end of those woods is a shrine built to protect the shard. If you are able to brave the horrors that await you in forsaken place, then you will be permitted to retrieve it."

From the sound of that, these 'Woods of Despair' sounded horrifying. I was a bit nervous about going there, but I needed to retrieve the shard to reform the spirit key, and the sooner I reformed it, the sooner I could return home to my friends. So I wasn't going to turn back.

"Though to be honest, I highly doubt that a meek little boy like you could last long within those woods." Faron told me. "To think that the spirit's chosen hero is someone like you…"

"What? I can do it! I will do it!" I told her.

"Hmph! You only passed Lanayru's trial with the help of your friends. And if I had not intervened before, those wolves would've ripped you to shreds! I honestly don't know what the other spirits were thinking when they chose you." Faron remarked. "If the decision had been up to me, I would've chosen one with far more confidence in their own skills. One such as that masked lad you met during Lanayru's Trial. Hmm….Robin was it?"

While I didn't entirely agree with Faron's judgment, she did have a point. Robin does seem a lot more skilled and confident than I was, and could likely get through those woods easily.

"But Lanayru insisted for you to be the chosen hero, even going as far as to give you the spirit's blessing." She said.

Spirit's blessing? What was that? I guess that might have been where my powers came from.

"I'll pass your trial and prove that I have what it takes!" I told her.

"Hmm… very well. Continue down the path to the right of my spring and you will reach the entrance of the Woods of Despair." Faron told me. "Good luck… you're going to need it."

Faron then vanished back into the spring. I wasn't going to let what she said get to me. I started running down the path to the Woods of Despair.

About ten minutes later, I arrived in front of a section of the forest that looked different from the rest of it. The trees within it had pitch black bark, and there was barely any light coming in.

"This must be the Woods of Despair." I said to myself.

"Indeed it is." Someone said out of nowhere.

I jumped a bit when I heard that, but I recognized the voice. Sitting up in one of the trees was Ghirahim. He jumped down from the branch he was on and snickered. I was about to draw my sword, but Ghirahim stopped me.

"Don't fret. I'm not here to fight you." He told me. "After all, you'll be tortured plenty once you go in there!"

"What do you know of this place?" I asked him.

"Oh… merely the fact that it is crawling with all sorts of horrific creatures, lurking in the darkness ready to attack anything that moves, possibly even devouring them." He answered.

Devoured?! There was the chance I could get eaten in there?! The thought of that freaked me out, but nothing was going to make me give up.

"Before I go, a piece of advice for you Link. Watch your step in there… or you'll end up as something's lunch." He said before he vanished.

All of this just meant I had to be extra careful. I took out the spirit gem and held it tightly for a few seconds, for luck, and then I cautiously walked into the Woods of Despair.

It was very dark inside. I could barely see in front of me. I knew if I couldn't see I'd have no chance of getting through here. Then I had an idea. Maybe I could use the glow of my sword from when I use my powers to light things up a little. I gave it a try, and it worked, the area about six feet around me was now illuminated. I remembered Faron saying something about Lanayru giving me the spirit's blessing, or something. Assuming that's how I got my powers, I decided to give them a new name: Spirit mode.

Anyway, while my sword was glowing in spirit mode, I took notice of several very large flowers with strange patterns on the ground ahead of me. I found it odd that they were growing in an area with so little sunlight, but I didn't have time to wonder about that, especially since I was in spirit mode. I decided to ignore them and charge on ahead. But I was in for a nasty surprise.

One of the flowers opened up in the middle and out snaked a serpentine creature with razor sharp teeth. I managed to dodge its attack just in time and sliced its neck-like stem horizontally in half. The plant creature struggled for a moment on the ground, with the area that I cut it oozing purplish blood, before finally shriveling up.

The whole forest floor ahead of me was covered with these flower monsters, so I had to move carefully. I only had about three more minutes before my spirit modes side effect kicked in, so I decided to try something kind of crazy. I held my shield out in front of me, and charged as fast as I could through the monsters. Several of them tried to bite me, but I was either going too fast, or they met the wrong end of my shield.

When I saw no more flower monsters on the ground, I took a break from spirit mode for a moment. I got lucky however, because there happened to be several orb shaped plants hanging from a nearby tree, and they had their own light. I went over to pick one, but the moment after I picked it, the branch it was hanging from swiped at me and knocked me backwards. Then to my surprise, the tree growled at me. This place had some pretty bizarre life forms, but at least I had some light now. I wrapped it around my belt and continued onward.

After traveling further into the woods, I came upon a clearing similar to the one from before. The moment I reached the center of it though tentacle-like roots encircled the clearing, blocking my escape. Suddenly I heard a scraping sound coming from above me. I looked up and saw what was making it: A gigantic spider. The spider dropped down into the clearing and hissed violently at me.

I braced myself for an attack. The spider delayed for a bit, but then attacked by thrusting its fangs at me. It was slow though so I was able to dodge it without much trouble. But then it tried a new attack. It reared up and sprayed venom at me. I was quick enough to dodge it, and it was fortunate that I did, because the venom had hit a tree and was burning a hole through it. I had also noticed a small glowing spot on the spider's underside when it had reared up. I had an idea. I kept dodging its attacks until it reared up to spray venom again. When I saw the glowing spot, I quickly thrust my sword into it. When I withdrew my sword from the spider, I could tell immediately that it worked.

The spider fell onto its back and curled up, dead. The roots that were blocking my path before disappeared. But before I was able to continue on, a large treasure chest fell down from the trees right in front of me. I decided to open it. Inside it was a yellow-colored boomerang. It would probably come in useful, so I took it along with me.

As I trekked deeper into the woods, I came across another clearing, but this one had a large withered tree in the center. What had caught my attention however was the building on the other side of the clearing that bore Faron's symbol. That had to be the shrine that housed the spirit shard! I made it! I started to run towards the shrine, but when I was about halfway across I felt the ground beneath me vibrate. Once again tentacle-like roots surrounded the clearing. I was expecting another spider or something, but it was something completely different.

The withered tree in the center of the clearing suddenly straightened itself up. In the middle of its trunk was a mouth-like hollow surrounded with small sharp teeth. In the middle of the hollow was a single large yellow eye that was staring evilly at me. It then closed the hollow and from the top of its trunk snaked out ten snake-like branches, each one tipped with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. The tree's branches began snapping at me one after the other. I tried dodging them all, but one of them managed to scrape me with its sharp teeth. I stumbled back in pain for a moment, but quickly regained my footing.

I had a feeling that if I could attack the eye in the center of its trunk, then I could defeat it. But first I had to get past all of its jawed branches. I tried slashing the branches, but they were too strong to cut. As I was dodging its attacks, I noticed that each branch had a discolored section near where they were attached. Maybe those sections could be cut, but with all these jaws attacking me, I wouldn't be able to get close enough with my sword. Then I remembered the boomerang that I picked up earlier. I took it out and threw it at one of the branches. When it hit the discolored section, it sliced right through it. The cut branch fell from the tree and shriveled up.

I was going to throw the boomerang again, but to my surprise the branch I had just cut off quickly grew back. Perhaps if I cut them off all at once I could get to the eye, but how was I going to do that? Maybe spirit mode could do something. Once I activated it, I focused energy into boomerang, which glowed with a blue light, just like how my sword does. I definitely felt something different about the boomerang at that moment. I prepared to throw it and focused on each of the trees weak spots.

When I threw the boomerang this time, it hit all ten targets at once! It would take a little time for it to grow them all back, so I rushed towards its now exposed eye and thrust my sword into it. The eye burst apart when I drew my sword out of it, and the tree monster began flailing around in agony. When it stopped flailing it shriveled up and disintegrated. The roots surrounding the arena disappeared and I was now able to access the shrine.

Inside of the shrine, there were two lit torches and a green-colored pedestal in the center. There was ancient writing on the pedestal. It said: "Ye who holds the Spirit's power, thrust your blade into the pedestal. When it has seen your power, what you seek shall be revealed." My guess was that I had to place my sword into the pedestal while in spirit mode. So I did just that. When my sword was in the pedestal, the blue light from it surged into the intricate patterns throughout the room and gathered into a rectangular section of the floor in front of me.

From that area a large stone tablet bearing the symbol of Faron rose up from the floor. And in the center of Faron's symbol, embedded within the tablet, was the emerald spirit shard. I hastily went up to the tablet and pulled the shard out. It began to glow, and I felt the same mysterious power within it that I felt from the sapphire spirit shard. I now had two of the shards. I just needed two more.

When I exited the shrine, I heard Faron's voice.

""You have done well, lad." She said. "Though I have to say, you were a bit slow."

Ignoring that remark, I asked Faron where the next shard was.

"The next shard and the light spirit who guards it lie south of here, within the vast Sahara Desert." She told me.

I checked my compass and pinpointed which direction was south, and started heading in that direction. Faron wished me good luck, saying that I'd need it. I had just managed to get through a dark forest filled with monsters, so I was pretty sure I could handle a desert.


	11. Chapter 11: The Great Pyramid

**Chapter Eleven: The Great Pyramid**

About three months had passed since I left Faron's forest. During that time, I had to travel around the shore of a huge sea known as the Mediterranean, and after I had reached the desert I still had to head further south if I was to find the next light spirit. Traveling the desert was very harsh though. Most of the time, I saw nothing but sand for miles. I did manage to bring some water with me, but at this rate it would be gone soon.

But it wasn't all bad. At nighttime the night sky was usually clear, and as I traveled I'd often gaze at the stars just like I used to back in Lanayru Village. But every time I looked at the stars, I'd always think of Starfire, back in America. It had been so long since I had seen her. I really wanted to finish this journey as soon as I could, so I could see her again.

One day while I was traveling, a harsh sandstorm started blowing. I wasn't going to let it stop me though, so I kept moving. But the wind was blowing so hard, the sand particles in it felt like bee stings when I got hit by them, and I could barely see. I collapsed from exhaustion, and went unconscious.

When I woke up, I wasn't out in the desert. I was inside a small cave. But how did I get here?

"Oh, good, you're awake." said a feminine voice.

I recognized that voice from somewhere. I sat up and looked around the cave. Sitting across from where I was, was a white-haired girl wearing a white dress. It was the girl I had met on the Ocean Liner. It was Kalena.

"Hey, I remember you. You helped me before, after I was beaten by Ghirahim." I said. "Your name is Kalena, right?"

"Right. I saw you fall unconscious in the sandstorm that blew across here earlier. I brought you here when I found you." she told me.

"What are you even doing out here?" I asked her.

"I am… on a journey of sorts." She answered. "A journey to discover what is truly important in life, if you will."

I didn't quite understand what she meant, but I was grateful that she saved my life again. I had also noticed that she had somehow refilled my water supply. She then handed me a small fruit.

"Here, you should eat this. I must've been quite some time since you've eaten anything." She said.

"Yeah… Well, I've had more important things on my mind lately." I told her as I ate the fruit.

"Like what?" she asked.

I explained everything to her. About how I met my friends back home, how Lanayru sent me on this journey across the world, and how I really missed Starfire and wanted to finish this journey as soon as possible.

"Well, fortunately for you, there happens to be a spring just south of here. It's near the Great Pyramids. Perhaps the spirit you're looking for lives there." She told me.

I was very grateful for her telling me that. But how did she know? How long had she been traveling? Before I left, she handed me a white cloak that she had with her.

"It will protect you from sand and other hazardous elements, and keep you warm at night." She told me.

I was hesitant at first, because it seemed to be the only one she had. But she told me she had no more need for it, and insisted that I take it.

"Thank you for being so nice to me. Most people just get this unwelcome feeling when around me…" I told her.

"It's no trouble. I once had a friend that had the same problem…" she said. "…I hope to be able to see him again someday."

"I know that you will." I told her.

She smiled from that comment. Afterwards, I left the cave and continued heading south, and after a few hours of traveling, I eventually reached an area of the desert that was covered in tall grass. There were three huge triangular structures far off in the distance. Those must've been the pyramids that Kalena had mentioned, so I must've been getting close.

I wandered through the tall grass for a while before coming across a freshwater spring. This had to be it; the next light spirit must be here. I walked up to the edge of the spring, and the water and rocks within it started glowing. A golden sphere rose out of the water just like the last time, but this time a golden antelope-like creature appeared with along with it, with the sphere floating between its large curved horns.

"My name is Ordona." It said. "I am one of the four light spirits of this world. I am the spirit that watches over this region."

"You know why I'm here, right?" I asked Ordona.

I assumed that since Faron had known I was coming before, that this light spirit would've known as well.

"Indeed. The trial you must pass to obtain the amethyst spirit shard is located within the largest of the Great Pyramids." He told me. "The door to the pyramid will only open before one who holds the spirit's power within him."

I already knew I had the spirit's blessing, so getting into the pyramid shouldn't be a problem. Before I left though, Ordona had one more thing to tell me.

"Be cautious, however. For the inside of the Great Pyramid is overflowing with evil power." He told me before vanishing back into the spring.

By 'evil power' I assumed that he meant that the pyramid was filled with monsters. Although I knew that a place like that would be full of ways to keep travelers from the shard, so I would need to be careful.

After about an hour of traveling, I stood before the Great Pyramid. It certainly was a lot bigger up close than it had been in the distance. I searched around it for a door of some sort. Eventually I came across a part of the wall that had an odd symbol carved into it. It was a symbol of a sphere within a horizontally curved pattern that resembled Ordona's horns. I assumed that this was Ordona's symbol, so this must've been the entrance.

Ordona had said that it would only open before one with the spirit's power, so I placed my hand on the symbol and went into spirit mode. The sphere glowed with a purple light, followed by the curved pattern, which glowed with a golden light. I took a step back and the door slowly opened, leaving a lot of dust in the air afterwards. I was about to head inside, but stopped as I suddenly heard someone slowly clapping behind me.

"Well done. It seems that the pyramid deems you worthy enough to enter." A familiar voice said to me.

I quickly turned around to see Ghirahim a few feet in front of me. This was the third time he had just suddenly shown up! Why was he following me?!

"Ghirahim. What are you doing here?" I asked, readying myself in case he tried anything.

"I'm merely here to inform you about just what you'll be getting yourself into when you go in there." He answered.

"I already know. The inside of this pyramid is filled with evil power. Monsters and traps and such, but it's nothing I can't handle." I told him as I wheeled back around, prepared to enter the pyramid.

"Ah, yes, this pyramid is chock-full of them. But I assure you… monsters and traps will be the least of your worries." He told me.

When I heard that, I turned to face him again to ask him what he meant by that, but he was already gone. If the monsters and traps were the least of my worries, then what was the thing to worry about? I didn't know, but I didn't want to waste time trying to figure it out. I stared into the entrance of the pyramid. It was dark inside, even darker than the Woods of Despair had been. Nonetheless, I took a deep breath, and entered the pyramid.

It was really dusty and hard to breathe inside, by I kept going, descending deeper into the pyramid. I soon reached a large room filled with unlit torches. It did not seem like anything was here, but when I made it to the center, all of the torches suddenly lit up and the doorway behind me closed shut. From out of the sand beneath me rose eight green cactus-like creatures that moved above the sand in a spinning motion. One of them got close, attaching itself to my leg and digging its needles into it. I really hurt, as if it was trying to suck my blood or something.

I quickly forced it off and stabbed it with my sword. The other vampiric cactuses were surrounding me in a circular formation and inching closer. It was at that moment that I remembered a move that would work here. I waited until the right moment, and when they were all close I used a spinning attack to hit all seven of them at once. Once they had all fallen apart, the doorways behind me and ahead of me opened up. I picked the cactus needles out of my leg and continued on.

A few of the halls I traveled through had traps such as spiked floors and statues that fired lasers of some sort, but I managed to get through them. When I reached the next room, I expected some hideous monster to ambush me. But there was nothing in this room except for several torches, and a giant statue of a snake. But it wasn't a snake like Lanayru, this snake looked very ominous. It was colored black and had five red eyes, one of which was on its forehead. It was just a statue, but there was just something about that creature that felt… familiar.

I took a few more steps into the room, and I felt an unfriendly presence in the air. Suddenly everything around me went dark. I looked around seeing if I could find what caused it, but I saw nothing. Then after I took a few more steps, I heard something breathing heavily. It sounded huge, but I still couldn't see anything. Then I heard a deep roar from behind me. When I turned around, I saw five giant red eyes staring at me, the same ones that the statue had! I gasped, and then I felt a horrible burn in my left arm where my birthmark was. As I clutched it in pain, the red eyes came closer. I tried to draw my sword, but the beast was already upon me. It opened its mouth full of razor sharp teeth attempting to devour me. I closed my eyes, thinking this might be it for me.

But when I opened my eyes again, the beast was gone, and I was back in the room I had been in before everything went dark. It was as if nothing had even happened. Was it all just an illusion? One thing was different though. There was now a large treasure chest in front of me. When I opened it up, I found a wooden bow and a quiver full of up to thirty arrows. This would certainly be useful later on, so I took it with me and kept going. Still I wondered… what had I just seen? And what exactly was that a statue of?

I soon came into a very large sand-filled room with what looked like a gigantic shield on the wall. Beneath it there was a door that had Ordona's symbol on it. That must've been where the shard was. But when I got to the center of the room the door behind me slammed shut. I looked around cautiously, trying to find what I may have to face. Then to my surprise, the giant shield fell from the wall, and sprouted legs. It wasn't a shield at all! It was some kind of gigantic beetle! It stood up with its wings opened, bearing very sharp looking mandibles, and screeched loudly at me. I pulled out my sword and braced my shield, ready for battle.

I attempted to strike first, but the monster's armor was too strong, and my sword just bounced off. It counter-attacked using a headbutt and knocked me down. It then tried to stab me with its mandibles while I was down, but I quickly rolled out of the way and got back up. How was I going to damage this thing if my sword couldn't cut it? The beetle opened up its wings again, and it was then that I noticed a small red spot inbetween its wings that looked like a weak point. Unfortunately, the beetle closed its wings almost as quickly as it had opened them. I had to find a way to force its wings open.

The beetle tried headbutting me again, but this time I was ready for it. I countered by bashing my shield into its head, causing it to stumble. When it did stumble, I noticed that its wings opened slightly. Maybe if I put some more force into my attack, I could get it to open them all the way, and I knew just how to do that. I went into spirit mode, and when the beetle tried attacking again, I rammed my shield into it. This time, my counterattack had a greater effect. It not only forced the monster's wings open, but it had also stunned it. This gave me enough time to climb onto its back and fiercely slash at its weak spot.

After a few hits, the beetle got up and shook me off. I would've thought that attack would finish it off, but it instead just seemed to make it madder. It opened up its wings again, but this time it flew into the air, out of my reach. How was I going to attack it now? The answer wasn't that hard to figure out though, because I saw that on its stomach was another red spot. If I could hit it with a projectile weapon maybe I could get it back down here, but my boomerang couldn't reach that far. Then I remembered the bow I had picked up earlier. That would probably work. The monster's weak spot was covered by its legs though, so I had to wait for just the right time.

I pulled out my bow and set an arrow onto it. I pulled back on it and aimed up towards the beetle, waiting for the right time to fire. The beetle stopped in midair and tried dropping some weird goop on me. Fortunately it missed, and I noticed that the beetles weak spot was now uncovered. Reacting quickly, I fired an arrow at it. It hit right on target, and the beetle screeched as it plummeted down to the ground onto its backside. While it was stunned, I climbed onto it once again and thrust my sword into its weak spot.

It shook me off again, but fortunately my attack had worked. The beetle let out a final screech, then curled up and died. Afterwards, the door I came from opened, and the symbol on the other door was glowing, which I'm pretty sure meant that I could open it now. When I approached the door, it opened up automatically for me.

The inside of it looked almost exactly the same as the room that had housed the emerald spirit shard, except this time the pedestal in the center was a purplish color. Just like the last time, I went into spirit mode and thrust my sword into the pedestal. The blue light from my sword once again surged into the patterns throughout the room and gathered into the rectangular section of the floor in front of me. A stone tablet bearing Ordona's symbol rose up from the floor, and embedded within it was the amethyst spirit shard.

I went up to the tablet and carefully pulled the shard out. Like the other ones, it started glowing, and I could feel that same mysterious power within it. I now had only one more shard to find.

When I exited the pyramid, I heard the voice of Ordona calling to me.

"You have done well, chosen one." Ordona said. "There is now but one last trial for you to undertake."

"Right. So where can I find the next shard?" I asked him.

"The final shard and the light spirit who guards it can be found in an area far to the east of here, beyond the Himalayan Mountains, and across the sea beyond that. Be warned that the path to the final trial will be very treacherous." He told me.

It sounded scary, but I assured him that I wasn't going to let up now. Not when I was so close.

"Lanayru certainly made a wise decision when he bestowed the spirit's blessing upon you, child." Ordona said. "Now go. May fortune be with you on your quest."

With my compass, I pinpointed which direction was east and started off once again. From what Ordona said, the way to the next shard must be very long and dangerous. But I only needed one more shard, and then I could reform the spirit key. And most of all, once this was all done, I could finally go back home to my friends. I couldn't help but wondered what they've all been doing while I've been gone.


	12. Chapter 12: Memories upon the Mountains

**Chapter Twelve: Memories upon the Mountains**

Almost six months had passed before I arrived at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains. The journey to get here had been hard enough, but once I saw just how gigantic this mountain range was I nearly lost hope. But just as quickly, I remembered why I had to cross them. So I could retrieve the final shard and return to my friends. I missed them all so much. I had been hoping that I have not worried any of them too much. When I got back I would have to explain why I haven't been able to contact them. But until then, I continued on into the cold and intimidating shadows of the mountains.

Just walking through the mountains was difficult. There was hardly any flat terrain, and most of the ground was covered in bitterly cold snow. It was fortunate that I still had the cloak that Kalena had given to me back in the desert; otherwise I would've succumbed to the cold almost instantly. I had kept moving for nearly two weeks, and yet it didn't seem like I was even halfway across yet. One night while I was climbing up one of the small mountains, a fierce blizzard started blowing. I tried to force my way through it, but the wind was really strong, and the ice shards hit like broken glass. Fortunately, near the top of the mountain, there was a small cave. I decided to take refuge within it until the storm passed.

I sat down near the cave wall, close enough to the entrance that I could still see the storm blowing, but far enough that it wouldn't hit me. This was bad. Not only was I being delayed in my quest, but I was also really hungry. Though I could usually go for a while without food, I knew I eventually had to eat something. Before, I would usually find something in the wilds to eat, mostly insects. While that may seem to be gross, it was better than eating nothing, and surprisingly, they're better than they look. But there wasn't anything to eat here.

Even with the storm blowing, I was still able to see the stars in the night sky. I had always liked gazing up at them before, but now I did so even more. Not only did it make me feel content, but whenever I looked at them I always thought of… her. I missed Starfire so much. I was actually surprised that I still remembered her name. I then remembered that gemstone that I had in my pocket, the one that had formed for some reason after I had unintentionally caught one of her starbolts. The spirit gem. I pulled it out and held it in my hand.

It looked just the same as when it had first formed. It was a clear spherical gemstone that had two lights inside, a blue one and a green one, circling around each other. Just holding it made me feel better, almost as if Starfire was right there with me, and I think I now knew why. I think her starbolts may hold some of her spiritual essence within them. And when I caught it, it reacted with my spiritual essence, possibly due to my spirit's blessing or something, and the two essences fused together. For what reason, I still had no idea? But whenever I held this gem, I felt safe. As I looked at it, I wondered…. if she still remembers me?

When morning came the next day, the blizzard had stopped, and I was able to keep going. The terrain was still very difficult to travel across, but I kept going without relent. About three days later, I came upon a gigantic cliff-face that blocked my path. There didn't seem to be any way around it, so I had no other choice. I had to climb to the top. I found a part of the wall that I could grab onto and began what would be a very long and difficult climb. As I kept climbing, I felt like I was getting weaker. I wasn't sure if it was from the stress on my muscles, or the thin air around me, but that wasn't going to stop me.

About halfway up though, some of the rocks I had gripped to climb came loose. With nothing to hold onto, I started to fall. It was a long way down, and if I didn't do something, I would perish. Thinking quickly, I took out my sword and thrust it into the side of the cliff. I skidded down a few feet, my sword soon anchored itself into the rock, and I hung onto it for my life. I had fallen down quite some distance, but at least I had prevented myself from being broken apart on the rocks far below. I continued my climb, using my sword like a pick-axe to prevent another fall. After about two hours I finally reached the top, and to my surprise, someone held out their hand to help me up.

"Nice to see you again, Link." A familiar voice said.

I looked up to see just who I thought it may have been. It was Kalena again!

"That was quite a fall you took earlier. I hope you're not hurt." She said.

"I'll be alright. But what are you doing out here?!" I asked her. "This is the third time we've come across each other. Are you following me or something?"

"I guess we are just going in the same direction." She told me while giggling slightly.

"Oh. Well…. Thanks, again." I told her.

I pulled out my compass to see if I was still going the right way. To my surprise though, something really weird was happening with it. The compass needle was spinning like crazy in random directions. What was going on?

"My compass is acting strange! I can't determine which way is east!" I said out loud.

Kalena had heard me, and she came and took a look at it.

"It must be because of the area we are in. Many of these rocks have magnetic properties in them, so a compass is practically useless here." She told me.

"Well that's just great!" I said sarcastically. "Now how am I going to get through these mountains?!"

"I think I can help. I know this area quite well. I can help guide you to where you need to go." She said.

That was great, but how did Kalena know the way through here? I guess it didn't matter much; after all, she seemed to be full of surprises. I accepted her offer and the two of us continued onward.

Several hours passed, and the air around us was really cold. I could feel it even with my cloak on, but Kalena didn't seem to mind it at all. I offered to let her use my cloak for a while, but she told me that she was fine. She was fine? In this bitter cold? Who or what exactly was this girl?

"So where are you headed to?" she asked me.

"To an area that is over these mountains and across a sea beyond that. I was told that is where I could find the fourth light spirit." I told her.

"Hmm… judging from that description, I'm guessing that you're heading for Japan?" she asked.

"Japan? Uhh… I guess so. Ordona never told me what the name of the area was." I answered.

About half a day later, we finally reached the other side of the mountains. Now all I could see was grassland for miles, but compared to the rough mountain terrain, crossing this area would be a piece of cake! My compass was working again as well, and I was able to pinpoint which direction was east.

"When you reach Japan, I would suggest that you head for Tokyo." Kalena said.

"Tokyo?" I asked.

"Yes. It is the largest city in Japan, and if there is any knowledge of where the spirit you are looking for is, it would probably be in Tokyo." She told me.

"Then I guess that's where I'm headed next." I said. "Thank you for all of your help."

I bid Kalena farewell as I headed off into the grassland. Now I had to reach the sea, and from there, Japan.


	13. Chapter 13: Trial of Fire

**Chapter Thirteen: Trial of Fire**

What seemed like six more months had passed since I had gotten through the mountains, but I had finally crossed the sea and reached Japan. I reached Tokyo a few days after that, and it certainly was a sight to behold. Almost everywhere I looked I saw bright colorful lights, and there were people all over the place. It seemed like Tokyo had even more people than there were in Jump city.

I made several attempts to find out where I could find the light spirit, or more specifically, the spirit's spring, but everything was written in a foreign language. And when I tried asking people about it, I couldn't understand them. I guess everyone here spoke a different language, which I later found out to be Japanese. This was going to make my search a lot harder.

I was almost about to give up trying to find info on the spirit's whereabouts and just go look for myself, but before I did, I noticed a library nearby. I decided that it wouldn't do any harm to go in and see if I could find anything, so I went in. The inside was full of shelves with thousands of books on them. However, they were all written in Japanese.

"Does anyone here speak English?!" I shouted without thinking.

Instead of being shushed however, I was answered by a short old man who turned out to be the one in charge of the place.

"Can I help you, m'boy?" he asked me.

He spoke English! Now maybe I could get somewhere. I asked him if he had any books about ancient spirits.

"Oh yes, we have many books on that subject." He said. "Is there a particular spirit that you are wishing to know more of?"

"Yes. I need information on the light spirit that is said to live around here." I told him.

The old man looked rather surprised to hear me say that, and led me over to the front desk.

"Hmm… I'm afraid that you will not find any info on such a spirit among these shelves." He told me.

He then pulled out a very large and very old looking book from the desk and began flipping through it. He eventually stopped on a page that depicted a golden eagle.

"Ah, here it is. According to legend, a great spirit of light known as Eldin is said to live in this region." He said. "It is said that he only reveals himself to those he deems worthy, so very few believe he exists."

"Does it say where I can find him?" I asked.

"Well, it says here that the few sightings of Eldin were in an area somewhere around Mt. Fuji." He answered.

The old man then pointed out the nearby window to the large mountain that was visible in the distance. He told me that was Mt. Fuji. Fortunately, it did not look like it was too far away. I thanked the old man for his help and left the library. I began heading towards the mountain, hoping that I would find Eldin somewhere in the area.

After about a two hour trek through the forested areas around the mountain, I eventually reached the mountain base. I searched around the area a little longer and soon found a freshwater spring, just like the ones from before. I walked up to the edge of the spring and the water and rocks within it began to glow. A golden sphere rose up from the spring, just like before, and a magnificent golden eagle, like the one that was in that book from before, appeared along with it and perched on top of the sphere.

"My name is Eldin." It said. "I am the light spirit that protects these lands. Chosen Hero, you have done well to make it this far."

"It's an honor to be in your presence great spirit. I assume that you know why I'm here?" I asked him.

"You have come seeking the ruby spirit shard, correct? The trial you must pass to obtain it lies within a temple embedded within the heart of the volcano before you." He told me.

A temple inside the volcano? That sounded really dangerous, but I wasn't about to back down.

"The temple is sealed with an impenetrable doorway that will only open before one with the spirit's power. It can be found in a cavern further up the mountain." Eldin told me while pointing one of his wings in the direction that I should go.

I thanked the spirit and went down up the mountain path that Eldin had pointed to. The pathway led me to a large cavern entrance, just as Eldin had said. Once inside, I eventually came upon a gigantic door that had Eldin's symbol upon it. I remembered that the Great Pyramid had a similar door. I assumed that like the last time, I simply had to touch the door while in spirit mode, and it would open, so I did just that. Eldin's symbol glowed with a crimson light, and the door slowly opened. Once it was open, I felt an immense heat wave came blowing out of the temple. It felt like it was really hot in there, but a little heat wasn't going to stop me. I took a deep breath, and entered Eldin's Temple.

The first room in the temple had a gigantic eagle statue in the center, surrounded by a pool of lava. It must've represented Eldin. I guess this temple was built back when more people knew about the spirit. There was a door on the other side of the room, but it was blocked by large iron bars and I couldn't open it. There must've been something in the room that would lower them. After I looked around the room for a bit, I noticed that one of the statue's eyes was a different color. Maybe something would happen if I hit it, but wasn't any way across the lava pool. Then I remembered the bow that I had with me. I still had about twenty arrows left, so I set one onto my and fired it at the statue's eye.

Unfortunately, the intense heat was making my vision a bit blurry, so my first shot missed. It took me three more shots before I finally hit the target. The statue's eye turned the same color as the rest of the statue, and the bars blocking the door lowered. I put my bow away and went through the door. The next room I entered had circular arena surrounded by lava. The only thing that I could see in this room was a pile of bones in the middle of the arena. When I got near the center of the room, the door behind me suddenly locked, and the pile of bones in the center of the room sprang to life and reformed into a skeletal warrior holding two immense swords.

I prepared myself for battle, quickly dodging the skeleton's first two attacks. While its attacks appeared to hit with a lot of force, they were really slow. I took advantage of the opening it gave me and hacked off its legs. The skeleton fell down at first, but strangely, its legs just reattached themselves. My foe got up and continued attacking as if nothing had happened. I then cut its spine in half, but it just reattached itself again. It tried attacking again, a bit quicker this time. I blocked it with my shield, but the force of the blow still caused me to skid backwards.

This gave me an idea. Maybe I could force it back and have it fall into the lava. I activated spirit mode and unleashed a flurry of attacks at the skeleton. It kept blocking them with its swords, but that's exactly what I wanted it to do. The force of my attacks caused it to skid backwards more and more, until I drove it to the edge of the arena. With one final shove with my sword, the skeletal warrior fell off the arena and sank into the lava pit. I knew it couldn't reform itself if it was melted. Apparently the temple knew it too because both of the doors in the room unlocked and a large treasure chest appeared in the middle of the room.

When I opened the chest, I found a strange device that was like a handgun with a sharp tip at the end of a chain. I wasn't exactly sure what it was but I took it with me anyway. I then noticed a problem. Both of the doors had opened, but the way forward was on the other side of the lava pit, and there was no solid ground to cross it.

I was at a loss for what to do at first, but then I noticed that mounted above the door there was a plaque with a circular pattern on it. It was at that moment that I realized what the item I had just obtained was for. I pulled it back out and aimed it at the plaque. I pressed a small button on the handle and the chain fired out at the target, with the sharp tip hooking onto the plaque. I pressed the button again and the device reeled me across the lava pit, landing me right in front of the door.

As I continued onward, I went through several other rooms where I had to utilize my new device, which I decided to call the hookshot, to get through. I eventually came across a narrow room that rose high up vertically. The door must've been at the top. Fortunately there were lots of targets for my hookshot adorning the walls. I used them to get up to the top.

When I went through the door, I was in an area with a very large lava pit in the center that was open to the sky. I assumed that this was the crater of Mt. Fuji, but what caught most of my attention was the door on the other side of the crater. It had Eldin's symbol carved into it. The final shard had to be behind that door! I was about to circle around the crater to get to the door, but before I could the entire mountain began to shake, and a pile of rocks fell in front of the door I had just came through. I saw the lava in the crater begin to ripple fiercely, and a gigantic worm-like creature with three yellow eyes on its head rose from crater. The hideous creature opened its gaping maw, flicking out an equally hideous worm-like tongue, and loudly roared at me. I braced myself for what I knew would be an intense battle.

The monster fixed its gaze upon me with its three gruesome eyes. It made an undulating movement with its body and spat a large wad of magma at me. I was able to dodge it, but I was still able to feel the heat of the attack. The beast kept spitting magma wads at me as I ran circling around the crater trying to avoid them. After it fired a fourth shot, it let out a blood curdling roar and curled its body downwards. Then it began to inhale a tremendous amount of air, its tongue flicking around as it did so. Then without much warning, it let loose a devastating stream of fire from its mouth, which it spread across the arena trying to incinerate me. I did manage to avoid most of it, but the last few flames managed to singe parts of my tunic.

While it had been preparing its attack, I had noticed that its tongue had a peculiar design on its tip. Maybe I could use my hookshot to latch onto it. But then I realized if I did that, I'd be pulling myself over to the monster, and that would probably just end up with me falling into the lava. I had to find a way to pull the monster over to me, but how?

Then I had an idea. Maybe I could have the strength to that if I was in spirit mode. I had to try something. After the monster fired several more magma wads at me it began to inhale for its fire breath again. I quickly pulled out my hookshot and aimed for its tongue. When I saw the weird pattern, I went into spirit mode and fired my hookshot into the hideous creature's tongue. It struggled for a bit, trying to get it off, but with a forceful yank I managed to pull the monster over to the edge of the crater.

The fall that it took had stunned the beast, so I took the opportunity and attacked one of its eyes until it burst. Afterwards the monster sprang back up and dived underneath the lava. It was trying to ambush me now, so I kept a watchful eye on the lava. Suddenly I saw ripples in the lava right in front of me. I quickly jumped out of the way before the monster sprang from the lava to try and bite me. After it missed, it slid back into the pit and reemerged in the center like before and fired magma wads at me again. I repeated the same strategy, waiting for its tongue to show and using my hookshot to pull it over to me. After this second attack, it only had one eye left.

However, the monster was beginning to catch on and would sometimes feint using its fire breath and instead try attacking me with its teeth. It was hard to predict what it would do next, but eventually I hooked its tongue again and pulled it over. I thrust my sword into its last remaining eye. The monster lurched backwards and flailed around in agony. Then it let out one final deafening roar, along with a surge of fire towards the sky, and then exploded in a tremendous flash of fire. With the monster defeated, the door bearing Eldin's symbol started glowing. I ran over to it, eager to go inside.

Once again, the inside of the room was the same as the previous shard chambers. A crimson pedestal was placed in the center. I went into spirit mode and thrust my sword into it. The blue light from my sword surged throughout the patterns throughout the room and gathered into a section of the floor in front of me, and from it rose a stone tablet bearing Eldin's symbol. And embedded within the tablet was the ruby spirit shard, the last one that was needed to reassemble the spirit key.

I pulled the shard out of the tablet and it began to glow. This time however, it glowed even brighter than any of the shards had done before. Then I felt something vibrating within my pocket. It was the other three spirit shards. I took them out and held all three in my hands. Then strangely, the four shards began to levitate above me, all the while glowing even brighter. They gathered into a circular formation, and a sphere of brilliant white light formed in the center of them. The shards started orbiting closer and closer to the sphere, until all four were enveloped within it. The sphere then shined even brighter. When the light faded the shards were gone, and in their place was an object that resembled a golden arrowhead with wings on top. This was the spirit key, it had to be!

The spirit key descended into my hands, and I could feel sacred power emanating from it. Finally, I had fulfilled the purpose of my journey. Now that I had the spirit key, I could finally return home to my friends. I couldn't wait to see all of them again, especially Starfire. I just hoped that she would forgive me… for breaking my promise.


	14. Chapter 14: Linebeck the Sailor

**Chapter Fourteen: Linebeck the Sailor**

I exited Eldin's Temple, relieved to be out of the dreadful heat of the volcano. I stared at the horizon with a big smile on my face. Now that I had reassembled the spirit key, I could finally return home to my friends. I could hardly believe that it had been nearly three years since I had last seen them. I wondered how they were doing. But first I would need to find a way to get across the ocean back to America.

I started to head back down the mountain path towards Tokyo. But before I could get too far, I was stopped; stopped by a voice that was all too familiar to me by now.

"Well, well… someone certainly looks happy." The voice said.

I quickly turned around to see Ghirahim standing before me once again.

"Ghirahim! Why are you here?!" I asked.

"Why I'm just here to see my favorite little wannabe hero again. Is that so wrong?" Ghirahim answered with a hint of sarcasm.

"I don't have time for this!" I said. "I know why you're really here. I'm not going to let you destroy the spirit key!"

"Spirit Key?!" he gasped. "Never heard of it."

What?! He wasn't after the spirit key at all?! Then… what did he want with me?

"Wait… you're not after me for the spirit key? Then why have you been following me?" I asked him.

"I have my own reasons for what I do." He answered rather calmly. "You see, I'm looking for… a particular someone. And I've had my eye on you, Link."

What was it about me that he was so interested in? It didn't matter; I wasn't going to let him stop me from going home! I drew my sword and stood ready for battle.

"Did you really just draw your sword? You wish to stand against me in battle once again?" Ghirahim asked me.

I didn't answer. I just kept my battle-ready stance. But he could tell by the look in my eyes that I meant business.

"Very well. I am interested to see how much you have improved." He said. "That is… if you have improved."

He then snapped his fingers and brought forth a black rapier to fight me with, just like before. After a moment, he made the first move. He rushed at me to try and strike me on the side again, but I saw this coming and used my shield to repel the attack. This caused him to stagger and I was able to get a few strikes at him. After a few hits he leapt back and snickered.

"I guess you remember everything from our last battle. But can you avoid this?" Ghirahim taunted.

He snapped his fingers again and summoned a swarm of levitating daggers to encircle me, just like before. But this time I was ready. I performed a spinning sword attack that hit every dagger that surrounded me in one move. Some of the daggers were even flung back at Ghirahim himself.

"Sorry, but I'm not gonna fall for that again!" I told him.

Ghirahim brushed himself off from my counterattack, looking irritated but impressed at the same time.

"So you have improved." He said. "But I'm afraid this battle will be a bit different from our last one!"

He snapped his fingers again and brought forth a second rapier. With two swords in his hands he came at me. Our swords clashed in a battle that seemed like it was taking hours. Eventually though, I got the upper hand and managed to strike him several times. Ghirahim dropped one of his swords and stumbled backwards. He flicked his hair back and coughed a bit.

"Well, well… you put up more of a fight than I thought possible out of such a soft-hearted boy. But I'm afraid we're going to have to stop here. I have much more… pressing matters to attend to." He said.

"Good. Go! You're not going to keep me from my friends!" I told him.

"Now who ever said I was trying to?" He said.

I relaxed, knowing that the battle was over… at least for now. But if he wasn't trying to keep me from going home, what were his intentions? Before he left, he turned around to tell me one last thing.

"Before I go, a little warning: when you do return home to your friends, don't expect things to be as they seem." He told me.

He then vanished. Don't expect things to be as they seem? What did he mean by that? I already knew things would be different than before. After all, I had been gone for three years.

Once I was back in Tokyo, I decided to visit the harbor. Perhaps I could find a boat that I could use to get back home. While I was searching, I happened upon what looked like a souvenir. It was open, so I went inside. Maybe I could get some info about getting a boat here.

Inside the building there were all sorts of strange and exotic looking treasures lining the shelves, most of which didn't look like they came from this region. I went up to the front desk to ask for help. There was no one there, but there was a bell that I could ring for assistance. When I rang it I heard someone shout from the back of the shop.

"Be there in a minute!" They said.

Soon afterwards, the one who had said that came up to the front desk. He was a middle aged man with long brown hair, and was wearing a blue overcoat.

"Welcome to Linebeck's Treasure Shop. Can I help you, kid?" he asked me.

"Uhh… yes. I was hoping that I could get some info as to where I could find a boat to use." I told him.

The man leaned over towards me a bit giving me a curious look that made me feel a bit nervous.

"There's something… odd about you, kid." He said. "I get this weird feeling like I shouldn't be near you."

I knew exactly what he meant. It was that 'unwelcome feeling' that practically everyone got when around me. I really hoped that it wouldn't be a problem.

"But at the same time… there's something a like about you, kid. Kinda like the feeling that a sailor gets when they meet a toughened-up traveler." He said.

When I heard that, I became intrigued.

"You're a sailor?" I asked him.

"Only one of the best. The name's Linebeck. I'm a real man of the sea!" He answered. "And also a part-time treasure hunter. I travel this world all over, hunting down rare and exotic items, and setting up shop in various places to sell them to various people."

"Wow! So you're like a real adventurer! My name is Link. I've been traveling the world too. Though right now I really just want to get home." I told him.

"I see. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news kid, but getting a boat isn't exactly free. You won't get any ride around here unless you have money." He said.

This would be a problem. I didn't have any money, and I didn't have any idea how to make any.

"Oh… well… sorry if I wasted your time." I told Linebeck.

Before I left though, Linebeck took notice of my old broken communicator that I had on my belt.

"Hey, hold up there kid!" He called out to me before I left.

I turned back around and came back up to the front desk.

"What's that you have there? That round thing on your belt." He asked me.

"What? This?" I replied as I took the communicator off of my belt to show him. "It's just an old communication device that I got from one of my friends back home. It's broken though. It doesn't work anymore."

He examined it for a few minutes before finally making a response.

"This looks like one of those devices that that group of super-powered kids use." He said. "What were they called again… oh, that's right, the Teen Titans."

"Excuse me?" I asked him. "I don't know what you're talking about. I got this from a guy named Robin."

Linebeck let out a hearty laugh after I had said that. I wasn't sure why at first, but then he told me.

"Kid… Robin is their leader!" He told me.

"What?! Wait a minute… would there happen to be four others? And are their names Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and…. Starfire?" I asked him.

Linebeck touched his finger to his nose and told me I was 'right on the nose'. I later found out that meant I was absolutely correct. All of my friends had decided to stay together after all. That was great!

"Are you saying that those five are your friends? And this little communication device is yours? So I would guess… that makes you a Titan as well?" Linebeck asked me.

"Uh… yeah, I guess." I answered.

"So why didn't ya just meet up with them here a few days ago?" he asked me.

I wasn't exactly sure what he was talking about, but then he mentioned that all five of them had been here in Tokyo a few days ago.

"WHAT?! They were here?! How long ago?" I asked him.

"I'd say it was about…. A week ago." He told me.

A week ago? I had only arrived in Tokyo about five days ago. If only I had been a little faster I might have been able to reunite with them here. Linebeck took notice of the sad look I had on my face, and then stood up in front of me.

"Tell ya what kid, I'll help ya out!" Linebeck said. "Ya see, I happen to be from America myself, and I had just begun to pack up my things and sail across the Pacific. I could probably give you a lift…"

"Really?!" I asked with my face full of hope.

"BUT… it wouldn't just be a free ride. I won't ask for any money, but while on my ship you'd be tending to her. Swabbing the deck and what not, understand?" He finished.

I agreed to those terms right away. Afterwards I helped him pack up the rest of his things, which didn't take that long with my help. Then he introduced me to his ship, which he called the S.S. Linebeck. It was a steamboat of some sort; it was impressive, albeit rather filthy. No wonder he wanted me to clean it.

Later that evening, I boarded his ship and we set off. I got to work swabbing the deck after the first five minutes. It was a pain, but cleaning a ship is easier than fighting a gigantic lava worm, that was for sure. It would still be a few days before we reached America, but all of this would be worth it once I was back home. I just hoped that my friends would be as glad to see me as I was to see them.


	15. Chapter 15: A Hero's Welcome

**Chapter Fifteen: A Hero's Welcome**

It had been nearly six days since Linebeck and I set sail from Tokyo. He had been working me pretty hard since then; Swabbing the deck, polishing his treasures, and even doing more 'menial' labor that I'd rather not mention. But now we were only a few hours from our destination, and I couldn't wait. Soon I would know for certain whether my three year journey had been worth it or not.

Sometime around noon, I was to see a very familiar city on the horizon. It looked almost the same as it had when I left, except for one very obvious difference; the gordanian command tower that had been on the small island was gone, and in its place was an impressive looking tower that was fashioned in the shape of a 'T'. It didn't take me long to figure out who owned that tower.

Soon after arriving, Linebeck docked his ship at the Jump City harbor. I jumped off the boat enthusiastically eager to find out what my friends had been doing all this time.

"Whoa kid, take it easy! I know you're excited, but we just hit shore!" Linebeck said.

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" I told him. "And now that I'm here I'm not going to let anything stop me from finding my friends."

"Well then, I wish you luck kid. See ya later." Linebeck told me.

"Maybe we'll meet again someday." I told him before he departed to wherever it was that he was going.

Later, I made my may to the coast. The Tower was across the water and there didn't seem like there was any way of getting there on foot. I was prepared to just swim across, but before I could I was stopped by a familiar voice.

"You do not need to do that Link. The Titans are not at the Tower right now." She said.

It was Kalena. Although considering how she had just mysteriously appeared before, I wasn't that surprised that she was here.

"How did you get here? Across the ocean?" I asked her.

"I took a boat, like you did." She answered. "If you wish to find your friends right now, they are within the city dealing with a strange monster. And from what I last saw, they were having a difficult time fighting it. I am sure that they could use your help."

I thanked her for the information and headed off into the city. If what Kalena said was true, and they were losing against whatever it was they were fighting, I had to find them quickly. Still I wondered; How did Kalena know all of this?

I was near a steel mill when I heard what sounded like a large crash. I went to investigate, and inside I saw all five of my friends battling a very odd looking monster. It was humanoid, but it was white with black markings on its face and two small eyes. It was big too, about three times the size of Cyborg, who managed to knock it backwards into a furnace. When flames from the furnace touched it, the monsters body became covered in flames. No. Its body had become flames!

I stood near the entrance hidden from sight and pulled the hood of my cloak up. I didn't want to reveal myself just yet, not in the heat of a battle like this. As I continued observing, I noticed that hardly anything my friends were throwing at the monster was working. Kalena was right; they were losing. One of the monsters fiery attacks had hit Starfire. After she fell to the ground the monster began to advance on her. Robin was trying to keep it away from her though. At least I knew he still saw her as a friend.

He wasn't able to keep it up for long though; the heat from the monster was affecting him. Before the monsters next strike, I readied my bow and set one of my last few arrows onto it. Then I fired it at the monsters head. The arrow struck the monster, stopping its attack. Everyone was wondering what had just happened. It was then that I made my appearance on the scene. I stood in the entryway and got the monsters attention.

"Hey fire face!" I yelled at it. "Leave my friends alone!"

The monster stared at me for a moment, almost as if it was scanning me like some sort of machine. I saw its pupils widen and then all of the sudden its entire body grew bigger and uglier. From the distance I heard Cyborg remark 'that was new', apparently meaning that the monster had never done this before. Regardless, I drew my sword and readied myself for battle.

The monster stomped towards me and swiped at me with a huge flaming claw. I blocked the attack with my shield, being grateful that my shield was fireproof. I was able to block several more of its attacks, but the heat coming from its body was starting to affect my reaction time. Before there was a chance for me to catch on fire, I went into spirit mode and shield bashed its next attack, forcing it to stumble backwards. Remembering how I took down that Lava Worm a few days ago, I took out my hookshot and fired it into the monsters forehead.

Before it was able to pry the hook loose, I gave the hookshot a forceful yank and made the monster fall to its knees. Before it could get up, I rushed over to it and thrust my sword into one of its eyes. The monster sprang up, gripping its face in pain. I was expecting it to attack again, but instead it ran out of the steel mill and disappeared. I sheathed my sword, then sighed in relief. It got away, but at least everyone was okay. I turned around to face all of them. When I lowered my hood, I heard several of them gasp; including Starfire.

"It's been a long time." I said to all of them.

It was quiet for a few moments, and all of them just kept staring until Beast Boy finally said something.

"Are we supposed to know you?" He asked.

When I heard that, I felt a little disappointed. Had they forgotten about me after all this time. I wouldn't be surprised; I was gone for three years after all. I was about to leave, but before I could, Robin interrupted me.

"Wait." He said. "Whether we're supposed to know you or not, thanks for your help against that thing just now."

"Oh. You're welcome." I replied.

"So… we have met this guy before?" Beast Boy asked again.

Raven then stepped up and answered his question.

"I remember. It was about three years ago; on the day that we all met for the first time. He helped us against the aliens that were invading then." She told him.

"How do you remember that?" Beast Boy asked her.

"I accidentally… bumped into him before it all happened." She said.

I scratched my head in embarrassment when I heard that, and once again apologized for it, with her saying again that it was no problem.

"I remember everything from that day. Even all of your names." I said.

I pointed to each of them and stated their names, and right after I mentioned Starfire's name she flew straight into me and hugged me bone-crushingly tight, which caught me by surprise.

"Hello long lost friend! I am hardly believing that I am seeing you again! It has been so long! You have not forgotten me?" she enthusiastically asked.

"Of course not… I could never forget you Starfire…" I said weakly, barely being able to breathe as I was still being crushed by her bone-crushing, yet greatly appreciated embrace. "It's great to see you again too… but… can I have my lungs back now?"

When she heard that she quickly let go of me and apologized for being too rough. I didn't mind it though, I was just glad she remembered me.

"Why did you not call? I had been hoping that you would for some time." She asked me.

To answer her question, I pulled out my broken communicator; explaining that I wasn't able to call anyone because it broke not too long after I left and I was unable to get it fixed. Cyborg took it from my hand and examined it. He mentioned that it felt nostalgic to be holding the original communicator design, and the fact that it was banged up pretty badly. He also mentioned that he would be able to fix it up good as new back at the tower.

On our way to the tower, everyone was very interesting in finding out what I had been doing all these years. When I mentioned my world-wide journey, they all wanted to know more, but Robin suggested that we get back to the tower first.

"Hey… Starfire?" I asked her as we were walking.

"Hmm? What is it Link?" she responded.

"I'm sorry…. sorry that I couldn't keep the promise I made back then… before I left." I told her.

"I forgive you. It was not your fault that your communicator accidentally broke. Though I am greatly looking forward to hearing about your adventures, and… making up for the lost time." She said with smile.

I smiled back, relieved to know that she forgave me. When we all got to the coast, Cyborg uncovered a small security panel and typed something into it. Afterwards a walkway rose up from the water that extended over to the tower. So that is how everyone who couldn't fly got over to the island!

The inside of the tower was incredible. The main room of the tower had a kitchen, living room, and computer system all in one. It had been so long since I had been indoors, mentioning that I had usually just traveled and slept outside. When Starfire heard me mention that, she flew over to me.

"That is unacceptable! I cannot allow my old friend who has just returned to us to sleep outside in the cold!" she said sounding very concerned.  
"Uhh… I have a cloak…" I told her as I pointed at the white cloak I was wearing.

"No, from now on you will stay here with us!" She said.

I began to assure her that it was alright and that I didn't want to be a burden to anyone by staying here, but she and the others all said that it wouldn't be any trouble. Robin however wanted to see what I was able to do in battle and asked for me to train with them tomorrow. I agreed, but until then everyone said I should just relax. They could tell I was worn out by the battle from before, and from my entire journey.

Everyone was eager to find out what had happened on my adventure, and at the same time I was eager to find out what they had all been doing while I was gone.

"So… what did I miss?" I asked.

Meanwhile, and I wasn't there for this part, a familiar figure was gazing at the tower from across the coast. It was Ghirahim, and he had a look of sinister delight on his face.

"Well well kid, it seems you handled my little 'pet' well enough. That will certainly please my master." He said to himself.

"And now you are happily reunited with your friends. But as I told you before: Not everything is as it seems. Quite soon, you'll be in for quite a shock!" He said, laughing maniacally afterwards.


End file.
